I'll meet her again
by PopcornJ
Summary: A short story of Robin before she left Plegia, and all the people she left behind, as well as what happened when she got into the Shepherds. Right now T but might turn into M later on.
1. Chapter 1: Chance Meeting

**Authors note: So this is my first fanfic, I thought about this concept for a while and I wanted to see how it played out.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Fire Emblem, not even the characters; the only thing I own is this story, which I sincerely hope you enjoy.**

Prologue: Uncertainty ahead

" _She told me never to look for her, yet here I am, looking at her directly in the eyes, wanting to say so much to her, damn, I never though I could see this damn tactician again, yet she still looks the same to me. I have no idea what I'm supposed to do now."_

"So, your name's Robin? Sweet!"

Chapter 1: Chance meeting

He walked silently down the cobblestone hallways; his steps didn't even make a sound. He had been there for over a month and already knew every nook and crevice the royal palace had to offer, so now it was high time to get some sort of reward for his hard work, a sugary reward to be exact. The young spy-in-training walked noiselessly through the hallways, stopping occasionally to check and see that no one was around. Although he was still training to become a spy he was a natural in his line of work, even surprising some of his masters. Therefore climbing up the ranks wasn't exactly hard work for him, earning him a spot amongst the spies training under the royal Plegian palace. After silently opening the big doors ajar he reached his destination: the mess hall. To say that Gaius had a sweet tooth would be an understatement. If anything, there was nothing he wouldn't do for sweets. As he turned the last corner he finally reached where he was looking for, the mess hall. The palace mess hall was enormous with big chandeliers hanging off the ceiling. With the eerie light from the windows pouring down, Gaius crept to the back kitchen. As soon as he crept in he found the small figure of a girl, about two years younger than him trying her hardest to reach the top cabinet in the kitchen.

" _Damn, now's not the best time to go in."_ He watched silently from the corner as the girl stretched her arms towards the sweets cabinet. " _So she's looking for_ that, _she might be smarter than what I gave her credit for, even though she's a girl_. _"_

Suddenly the girls foothold gave away and she started falling, the next thing Gaius knew he was holding her merely centimeters away from the ground. She looked smaller now than what she looked like back then. Her short brown hair framed her features perfectly and her big red eyes seemed to look right through him, he was scared and interested with her. He gently placed her back on her feet. His feet acted on his own and just as he was leaving the kitchen he heard a small voice behind him.

"Thank you, my name's Robin, what's yours?"

"Gaius" and just as quickly as he said it he ran out of the room with his heart beating as loud as it could.

(ﾉಥ益ಥ）ﾉ ┻━┻

"BOW!" Gaius quickly obeyed and bent down as he heard several pairs of footsteps down the hallway. As he slowly peeked up he found Validar, one of the highest grimreal priests in the castle as well as the figures of the other priests. He gave off this sinister vibe, akin to fear, which clung to him disgustingly. As he heard the footsteps give away he slowly looked up to watch the small matt of brown hair belonging to Robin, walking closely behind Validar. As realization slowly dawned on him he found himself looking directly at Validar's daughter, Robin completely shocked.

When night finally fell Gaius reached the kitchen only to find a pie with a small note with careful and delicate writing.

Thank you, Gaius.

-Robin

"Who exactly is this girl?"


	2. Chapter 2: Bubbles

**Authors note: My second chapter is finally up, special thanks to Gunloard500 for his fav and follow, it means a lot to me.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Fire Emblem the only thing I own is this story, I hope you enjoy it.**

Chapter 2: Bubbles

"UP, DODGE!" Gaius plopped on the ground with a small thud and a new bruise, combat training with Mustafa was always extremely painful and left Gaius suffering in the floor, this time was no different. "You need to get better at combat, even though you're a spy and probably won't see much!" said Mustafa with his booming deep voice, the whole castle probably heard him. With his voice shouting "next" he left the fighting grounds only to find Robin sitting in the grass watching him fall time and time again.

"Hey, you're doing slightly better"

"Not really, especially if you saw that last fall"

"Want me to help you train?" Gaius was curious over this, she still looked quite small to carry a sword and magic took quite a lot of years of constant studying, what could this girl know?

"Ok, let's see if you're any good" said Gaius with a small grin.

༼;´༎ຶ ༎ຶ༽

"Ok let's take a rest"

As soon as she heard that Robin collapsed on the floor with Gaius following suit closely behind. They were both heaving and completely exhausted. The training was much harder than expected, apparently Robin was pretty proficient with a smaller version of a sword, not quite a dagger but perfect for her size. Apparently she had been training for some years now, Gaius didn't know why but it scared him slightly.

"Hey Gaius, wanna see something that I've been learning?"

"Yeah, why not" as soon as he said that she stood up like she didn't just spend almost two hours sparring. She took up a small notebook from her purple robe. "I've been reading of some new spells and I found this one, and I thought you might like it."

With a small wave of her hand small colorful bubbles appeared where her hands swished, they became bigger and bigger as they got farther away, turning into even more different colors with beautiful shades. As soon as Gaius looked over Robin to ask for more bubbles he saw her slumped over.

He scrambled over to reach her as fast as possible and when he finally reached her he heard a small murmur "... I think... I used... too much mana." "Hey, don't worry you probably just need some rest, Bubbles." Gaius lifted her up on his back, although he was two years older than her he still was quite small, he didn't notice Mustafa looking at him from the training grounds with a knowing smile.


	3. Chapter 3: I feel alone

**Authors note: Chapter 3 is finally up! Also I'm starting to make the chapters slightly longer now that I finally have more time for writing. Thanks for the continued support. Also every emojicon I put in my stories are from this site** **/popular/.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Fire Emblem the only thing I own is this story, I sincerely hope you enjoy it.**

Chapter 3: I feel alone

The white haired boy was sitting silently, looking outside the window with his ruin tome in his hands. He still had some learning to do before he advanced to using only his personal spell tome but he was getting there.

He liked feeling the dark symbols emanate from the pages, permeating his body with this dark aura, his trademark smile widened with elation while reading through the pages.

" _I've heard about this man that can transform into a raven...maybe with enough study...nyahahaha, that'd be really neat!_ "

As he continued skimming through the pages he heard several feet scuffling near him, he paid no attention though they didn't matter to him.

He didn't hear as a book whizzed through the air and hit him on the side of his ear. "Oooh, blood, neat" he looked at the blood dripping from his ear with excitement written over his features, his smile was even wider now. As he looked at the blood in his hands he felt four hands upon his shoulders and two grab his feet. The next thing he knew he was standing up, with another kid, about a year older, looking at him straight in the eye.

"I heard what you did at camp..." Was he waiting for a response? "Well yeah it was really neat don't you think? Nyahaha!" "What?! You think this a damn joke? You killed over 100 students!" The boy who was holding his arm started laughing "So now it's time we got some payback"

As soon as Henry heard that he started feeling their punches in his whole body. Although he loved blood he didn't like ouchies, and he was getting a lot of them now. "Although bruises do look pretty nice, nyahaha!"

Henry felt dark magic course through him, he knew what this surges meant, bloodlust. He had felt it times before, when he saw someone special die before his eyes. His grin became wider, as the screams of the four boys echoed through the library, dark circles appeared on his hands and on the bodies of the boys. "Hey no fair, nyahaha, four against one? I think this is much better, your screams sound absolutely chilling, I love it!" " _Goetia_ " As he was speaking a crow came and sat on his shoulder, "Hey you're back! Was it beCAWs of their screams? They sure sound really nice"

What he didn't notice were the screams of one of the teachers as they saw him there, laughing maniacally. When Henry finally stopped laughing there were five teachers surrounding him, chanting loudly, suddenly chains strapped themselves to his hands feet and neck, this prevented him from doing any magic, they even stopped him from chanting a single spell " _Neglfar_ ". The last thing he heard before fainting from mana overuse was the cries from the boys as he was dragged away to the Dark Room.

(╯°Д°）╯︵ /(.□ . \\)

"We need to find new mages for training in the castle," complained Validar as he sat down in the command room, "it would be in our best interest to go to Plegia Academy, they usually have the best mages studying there. I shall send some priests over to evaluate new prospects in the arts of dark magic."

"My sincerest apologies for the interruption Lord Validar, but wouldn't it be a good opportunity for Lady Robin to help assess the mages too? This might help improve her tactical training." Validar looked dangerously at Mustafa after he finished talking, with his serpent eyes peering through his very soul, evaluating his options. "Seems like an appropriate plan, I shall leave the planning in your hands." As Validar stood up and left the room Mustafa finally relaxed, he needed to start planning the protection Lady Robin required, and he knew a candidate that would be more than willing to help with the job.

(/ .□.)\ ︵╰(゜Д゜)╯︵ /(.□. \\)

"Gaius, I was looking for you, I bring a proposition for you that I think you'll like"

"Does this proposition have any sweets?"

"Something better… Lady Robin" Mustafa tried not to laugh as he saw the blush that started covering Gaius' face a deep shade of red. "What will this job be?"

Gaius saw Robin as she was getting on her horse, she looked prettier than usual this day; she had her signature dark cloak that he had seen so many times, her unruly and wild brown hair, her dark brown eyes filled with compassion. " _What am I thinking about? This is a mission, I must stay on my guard and make sure there's nobody sneaky nearby, Mustafa did say there have been several attempts on her life"_

They chatted on their way to their destination, while Gaius was constantly on the lookout for any sort of movement outside of their caravan, as well as eating a sweet every few meters from his stash, and sometime sharing some with Robin. When the caravan finally arrived they were greeted by a very old man, "he looks as old as the academy itself" Gaius tried to stifle his laughter with little success, the old man was looking at him in a disapproving manner. Mustafa stepped forward, introducing the members of their caravan, the look of the old man drastically changed when introduced to Robin, he seemed almost petrified as he saw her. " _I don't like that look, who could look so scared of a girl this sweet?"_ They all started going in to the Academy, with the old man bowing his head profusely whenever he was near Robin.

ᕙ(⇀‸↼‶)ᕗ

Henry stood alone in the Dark Room, he couldn't move, the spikes that pierced his hands would bleed even more if he did, his legs and back were in a similar condition, besides he still had Neglfar casted on him, even if he wanted to move he couldn't do it. He drifted slowly between consciousness and unconsciousness, he liked the texture of blood in his hands but it hurts to badly for him to enjoy the texture. Being several days in there with not a single sound to be heard and even the sound of your own breathing being something of a faraway sound, was quite maddening. Henry had been here before, but never for this long. His smile faltered and tears started rolling down his eyes, he couldn't sob, the chains on his neck were too tight so he let his tears drop mercilessly. " _I feel so alone… I feel so much pain…"_ he felt empty inside, almost all of the blood in his system had drained out. With what he had left in his body he emitted a straggled cry, barely audible, yet it felt so real, so raw, so full of emotions, he smiled, if he died there at least he knew he was full of emotions even in his pain. As he started closing his eyes he saw a bright light and heard a scream.

"Gaius, what was that?" "I heard it too Bubbles but I have no idea where it came from, I'll go take a look" as Gaius left Robin was left with the priests and the old man, who was apparently the principal. She trusted Gaius would return soon with news, she couldn't stop thinking of the ride today, they were really close and she sincerely hoped he didn't catch her constant blushing.

"I'm back" "Whaaa! Gaius! Don't scare me like that, it's not fair." Robin looked at Gaius as he was laughing while balancing himself in the wall. _"I hope he chokes on his laughter"_

"I think I found what you were looking for. Come" she followed him closely though the hallways, even though he was one of the best spies in his class she was pretty good at sneaking around. The went silently around the hallways until they reached the place they were looking for. It was a dark door, heavily bolted with a sinister aura.

"We need to open it Gaius," "Good thing I brought my lockpick." "l think we need something faster" a small flame appeared on her hand and she started melting the lock on the door. It took only a couple of minutes and as soon as she opened the door a scream escaped her mouth. There was a boy, about her age, scrawny and bleeding from almost all of his body, a spell chained him to the wall. Robin unchained his hands with a Purge spell and ran to him. She didn't have a staff to completely cure him but she did have a vulnerary stocked in her coat. As if working on an unspoken agreement between themselves Gaius went and lifted him from the ground carrying him bridal style. " _He's lighter than Robin, damn that's not good"_ as they left the room they noticed principal of the school looking almost terrified. "My Lady Robin, the boy is a ruthless killer, a week ago he was found trying to kill some of his classmates, I shall deal with him appropriately, let this nuisance be not of your praised concern."

"He looks not like a killer to me, in fact I believe in his talent as a proficient Dark Mage, do not concern yourself with which should be my priorities, he shall be brought to the castle promptly and taught under a careful hand to become a highly regarded mage."

Due to the fact that the other priests had chosen the other candidates for tutelage in the castle they were able to leave soon with a pale principal cursing his luck. The white haired boy rode with Gaius; even though Gaius helped Robin clean his wounds he still needed proper rest and food, as well as bandaging in some of the wounds that were too deep for the vulnerary to cure, he still wasn't completely healed.

"Gaius, I'm scared, do you think he could die?" "He could've died if you didn't save him, Bubbles, so smile, we'll do our best, and you know that as cruel as the nurses are with their candy rations they will care for him" Robin smiled, she was still naïve and she knew that, she was spoiled and had a knack for getting what she wanted, but she couldn't let this boy die, not if she could help it. Mustafa was looking proudly at Robin, she was turning out to be one of the few royals he could be proud of. The first thing Henry saw when he woke up was Robins face and the wide and open dessert night as they reached a castle.


	4. Chapter 4: Healing

**Authors note: Thanks everyone for your continued support, I'm doing my very best to write constantly and with a good quality, still if my writing needs some polishing please tell me, I want to improve.**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing from Fire Emblem, the only thing I own is this story that, with each chapter, I hope you enjoy.**

Chapter 4: Healing

Henry slowly sees a light when he opens his eyes. " _Where am I? Who was she?"_ He felt the stings of some of his wounds but when he reached to touch them he found bandages wrapped around his torso. As his vision began to clear he saw a bundle of rich brown hair bundled up closely to his bed. _"It's her."_ Henry felt a grin cover his face, he wouldn't let this girl see him as small as he felt.

"Hey, you're finally awake, how do you feel?" "I'm a-ok! There's no CAWs for worry, nyahahaha!" "Please tell me when you finally feel good, besides you've been cooped up in this room long enough." With those final words she left the room. " _Did she see through me? How could she?"_

His smile broke and he started weeping, all the pain he had been holding in his heart poured out relentlessly. Images flashed through his mind, of Wolfy, his parents, school. " _Why did it hurt so badly?"_

The sky slowly turned a deep red as he left his room with his eyes still rimmed red from all his crying, he walked aimlessly through the hallways, as he turned in the first corner he found he saw her sitting against the wall. Instead of talking she took his hand, he limply followed, looking at all the paintings in the walls. She suddenly stopped against a large door. As she opened the door he heard another person inside, munching heavily.

"GAIUS! Those were not for you!" "Bubbles this is hardly my fault, you're the one that keeps doing all these delicious sweets, I'm merely testing to see if they're as good as they look, and believe me, the last candied fig did live up to my expectations of sweets. You're getting better." She started trying to punch him, he evaded almost every single hit and laughed whenever he did so, and Henry found this scene so weird that he couldn't help but laugh. As tears of laughter finished rolling from his eyes he opened them to see her smiling at him. "My name's Robin, what's yours?" "Nyahaha, the name's Henry!" "That name strangely fits you."

"This numbskull finished all the sweets I made so I might as well make some more." "Hey, the name's Gaius. So hey what's with all the crows? They were following you on our way back." "They're my best friends, they follow me anywhere I go, nyahaha, it's a whole murder of crows." "Neat…"

The three of them talked into the night eating sweets, preventing Gaius from hogging them all as well as some crows. Henry felt warm inside, and the people next to him were the reason he was feeling the strangest sensation in his heart.

He walked back to his room with Robin by his side, as to not lose himself in the maze. "So where am I?" "…Castle Grima…" "Ooooh sounds nice and creepy." "Hahaha, yeah when you put it like that it does pretty neat I just wish I could see it more like that."

They arrived at the door of his room where with a simple goodbye she left. Henry fell comfortably on his now dry sheets; they weren't even damp from his tears.

Sunlight peered from his window and he heard a small rapping sound on his door. When he opened the door he found an enormous man with a scar across one of his eyes looking down at him with a warm smile on his face. "Robin told me your name is Henry, you can call me Mustafa, I came here to take you to your training session, although this shall only happen once, I have some work to do too." "Nyaha, if I keep meeting all this nice people I'm actually gonna start liking this place."

They walked until they reached the library where Mustafa stopped in front of the door, "This is Lyon Library. Inside you should look for professor Knoll, he shall be waiting for you." "Thanks for the tour! See you later"

"You remind me of someone…" "Who? Does he like blood as much as me?" "Don't worry about that now, go train."

(づ￣ ³￣)づ

Mustafa walked slowly down the halls, even though he checked that no-one was watching him he turned around cautiously several times. He turned towards the right to the lower royal bedrooms, protocol was horribly strict at times, even going as far as to separate mother and child due to breeding and bloodline, he knew this well, he saw this constantly whenever he saw Robin. As he walked through one of the large rooms he heard a quiet weeping. " _This doesn't sound good_ " he checked again to see if he was alone and walked into the room. As he entered he noticed a woman, kneeling on the edge of her bed, cradling her head as tears rained on her beautiful white skin. "…Eirika…" it sounded almost like a whisper, a small gasp. She stirred slightly, as if to show that she knew he was there. Mustafa knew he shouldn't do it but he hugged her, letting her cry in his chest. He had loved her for some years now, and she felt the same way; he had kept it a secret for he knew that there was truly no future for the both of them. Mustafa held her even if his heart cracked with every sob that came from her. He held her until her sobs turned to small whimpers.

"They're going to start the cleansing..." Mustafa tensed, he knew what this meant, and what was going to happen to Robin, and they knew that no matter what they did they couldn't stop it. "I think I need some time on my own, thank you… Mustafa."

As he left the room he turned around to find the look of broken determination upon her face, she stood up with her back straight and her head held high, she looked beautifully tragic.


	5. Chapter 5: Cleansing

**Authors note: Chapter 5 is finally up after some revision, I want to thank everyone for their support, I shall continue writing which I sincerely hope you enjoy.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Fire Emblem, I own only this story.**

Chapter 5: Cleansing

Robin looked closely at the books on the shelves, Professor Knoll had let her roam inside the library as much as she wanted, so she had a tendency of looking at the tactics section for hours on end. Sometimes she was found sleeping in the tables placed around the library. The priests weren't allowed to touch her so she usually woke up with ink-stains in her cheeks and a sore back. She didn't mind it though so she searched for her special corner; it was a small window, one that different to the others for it had an actual window instead of an archers slit. the view was a small one but it gave her a view to the courtyard outside, especially the fountain. The fountain was small and not exactly the most beautiful one but it was secluded enough for her to hide there when she felt scared, the library was still to populated to be exactly comforting.

"I _feel so at ease, I don't need to worry about anything today, I wish it could just be like this forever, no more hours of tutoring from horrid priests, no more talk about Grima, it terrifies m_ e."

Even though her mother was near she could not see her often, she didn't even see her for her own birthday, one of the few things she had was her bookmark, it was a beautiful woven piece with two dragons, it had one word written upon it Wisdom.

" _What does it mean to be wise, can I ever be wise? Will I even manage to be like my mother, they say she was one of the smartest tacticians in the army, until my father married her, I hope I can get closer to her even though it's only through tactics. I feel whole, happy even_."

She took a deep breath as she opened her book "Of Swords and Tactics" it detailed every possible class that used swords, from cavaliers to swordmasters, she had yet to finish this book but she was enthralled by everything it told her, possible movements, skills, types of sword, even their their durability. Everything she found interesting or noteworthy was written in the notebook she always carried with her. Gaius gave it to her from one of the traveling merchants who often came to the palace outskirts.

(﹡︠﹏ु﹡︡)

"Hey Bubbles what're you doing?"

"First, no more Bubbles and second studying."

"I got you a little gift, something I caught a girl called Anna selling outside."

"Really? What is it? Wait but why am I getting a gift? What did you steal this time?"

"What didn't I steal?" Gaius was smiling as wide as possible "nah but never mind that; I wanted to give you this." He took a small pouch out of his pocket and threw it on her lap.

"What is it?"

"It's a book, one that isn't meant to be finished."

"What do you mean? Is this a joke"

"No, no Bubbles, what it means is that this is a book that has an infinite amount of pages, yet it doesn't grow in size. Don't know if it's a load of wyvern-crap or if it's actually true but I thought you might like it" he looked at her curiously as she opened the notebook, her smile broadened as she opened the cover, looking at each intricate design and drawing. There was a certain glitter in her eyes whenever she had a book or something precious in her hands. His heart swells whenever he sees that smile, that cute rosy tint on her cheeks... " _Hold on there Gaius, you're getting ahead of yourself, she's Validars daughter_."

"Thank you Gaius, I can't begin to say how much I love it, I'll start writing on it, who knows, maybe if there is an end we can find it." as she hugged him in thanks she didn't notice how red was his face or how much his palms were sweating.

(-'.'-)

She held both her notebook and her bookmark on her lap, they were two of her most priced possessions, she valued them above all else. Yet she knew that this moment couldn't last long, everything felt like it was going to end, even this very moment could be broken easily, a word was all it took to put her on edge, "Cleansing". She knew what it meant yet she couldn't come to accept it, so she tried her best to forget it, maybe if she did what best she could there was a chance. Then she woke up from her fantasy, and learned to understand that there was no other way. Still a part of her fought to keep it at bay, and as far away as possible.

"Lady Robin" she turned around only to find Professor Knoll looking at her patiently, he was the head of the Dark Mages, and a kind person, he was the one who patiently taught her Dark Magic, even though she wasn't good she did her best and she hoped he noticed that. Henry was not far behind, he looked enthusiastically at her, with that smile filled with emotion and anticipation. He had been there for months now and enjoyed every single day with them, they had the tendency of eating sweets every night in the kitchen, laughing constantly, Gaius, Henry and her.

Knoll left, leaving her with Henry, his smile was contagious and no matter how sad she was feeling his smile tugged at the corners of hers. She showed him on her most recent studies on tactics, he patiently listened and although he didn't really understand most of what she said he commented on whatever he could, be it a joke or how he could try to do it too.

After a couple of hours she received a message that she was to go to her room to dress in her grimreal garments, Henry walked her to her room and silently opened the door for her. He left laughing maniacally while a crow landed slowly on his shoulder. She stood there, alone in her room, quietly looking at the garment. It was a simple purple tunic, garnished with gold embroidery in the shape of eyes and fangs. It was a loose fit that accentuates some of the curves she had. The garment was clearly not made for a sixteen year old. Servants came and dressed her in the attire, looking pale and trying their best not to touch her, which was really hard, due to the fact that they were dressing her!

She looked at herself in the mirror they brought, the dark tunic contrasted her white skin and the gold designs made her brown eyes shine. She looked beautiful yet also sinister, her brown hair didn't fit with the designs. As she stepped outside her room she noticed dark hooded figures, barely resembling a men, standing at the sides of the hallway. They guided her slowly towards the ritual room, deep underground. Mustafa stood at the door, only the highest officials were asked to assist in the Cleansing, and General Mustafa offered himself as a guard.

Her blood froze when she started hearing the chants, she couldn't try to escape, she had her reasons to stay, and she would face her conviction through this, she wouldn't flee. The doors creaked behind her and she entered the dimly lit room.

"...I'm ready..."


	6. Chapter 6: Pain

**Author's note: Well chapter 6 is up, I had to think about this one a lot, it was hard to find the right words for this one, so I hope it lives up to your expectations. I want to convey everything through my words, so thank you for reading. And sorry for the delay, exam week has been a royal pain for me, college is harder than expected.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anything from Fire Emblem, the only thing I own is this story, and I hope you enjoy it.**

Chapter 6: Pain

The door closed slowly behind her, the chamber was lit dimly, with some old candles barely standing, dripping wax. The smell of mold and incense permeated the air thickly creating a thick atmosphere. The edges of the room were packed with mages and hooded figures, some holding religious artifacts. She walked into the middle of the room, with cold sweat making her cloak stick to her back. There was a stone pedestal, surrounded by canals, filled with oil, carved within the cobblestone. A priest came close to her, and as he removed his cloak she could see her own father looking at her, his eyes were wide open, focusing only on her; his eyes made her feel terrified, they didn't pierce through her soul, instead it was as if he were looking at her soul and molding it, breaking it. He was one of the only persons that could touch her, so he lifted her up towards the pedestal and chained her arms to the columns that laid beside the pedestal. The chains chafed her hands, they were tightly placed, soon her hands would go numb. Validar walked away from her, anticipation lining his every feature; he fell into line with the other priests, placing his hood back over his face.

Chants started filling the stagnant air; a priest started walking towards her while two others removed her cloak, being careful not to touch her; after taking a bowl and a brush from one of the priests he walked till he was in front of her. Robin tried her best to stay calm, yet all of her body was trembling, she was starting to crumble under the thick air.

" _I want to cry..._ "

The priest dipped the pencil in the bowl, brimming with blood, and started drawing symbols on her, " _power_ " " _destruction_ " " _nothingness_ ", but the most prominent symbols were those of " _vessel_ " and " _heart_ ". They were all located in specific parts of her body, for each one represented a connection to the being, and where each symbol was located meant that that part would be cleansed and re-forged with the meaning of the symbols.

As the priest left and joined the other priest the chanting slowly increased. The temperature of the room rapidly grew as the oil placed in the circles was lit. Some priests left the line, all standing together, with two Dark Mage kneeling nearby, the first Dark Mage was a lady in her mid-forties, but the extensive and twisted use of her dark magic had rendered her insane by some and wise to other; the other was a young girl with black hair, she was meant to be there to personally escort the lady, even though she despised the chore and frankly couldn't care less about her.

"Look, my daughter, today you shall witness a grand event" mumbled the lady.

"Sounds like a complete waste of my time" still she raised her eyes only to see a girl, sitting down, with her hands chained; after looking more closely she found a look in the girl's eyes, it was a mixture of fear and determination. She found herself looking at those eyes differently than what she had seen anything before. They were not filled with disdain or even hate, she looked that the only thing she wanted was to be outside of there, to leave this place behind and go somewhere, yet she was still there.

" _What keeps her here?_ "

"Tharja! Pay attention, now you see how a Dark Mage really works with the best ingredients." As she said that, the priests took the golden knives held earlier by a priest, and started stabbing their stomachs with it. Murderous laughs came from the throats of the priests, as they slowly fell to the ground, their eyes were blank while their smiles showed pain and pleasure, one of the priests started shivering. The Dark Mage conjured up from her hands a spell, she started sweating, and her spell started doing something. Instead of blood, a black liquid emerged from the bodies of the priests, and slowly they started succumbing, even trembling mage. Tharja looked as the black ooze started moving, almost as if on its own, being drawn towards the girl. The ooze touched her body and it quickly started covering her. She wanted to scream yet a knot made out of pure fear clogged her throat, making the only possible sounds broken. All the ooze linked itself to every symbol, turning the symbol into flames etching itself into her skin.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYAAAAAAA!" Tharja's blood froze as she heard her scream, the girl was being burned alive. The chants didn't stop, if anything they were only getting louder, as much as the girls scream until it drowned under the chants.

This is what the cleansing meant. Being stripped from your very soul, and changed with the blood of Grima, created from suffering and pain. Tharja gave a sideways glance towards her mother, she was sweating and probably in pain, but she didn't really care, the girl in front of her had her whole concern. She had studied this previously, and of all the failed attempts, she was not Validar's firstborn, and if things went wrong she would just be another empty corpse. She needed to fully accept what was entering her body, and what it meant. Validar looked tense under his hood, she was no daughter to him if she could not do this, her would delay his schedule by some time but in the end he could always obtain some more from where they came.

The flames burning her skin slowly quieted as the chants became a small murmur, until one could only see a small figure resembling a girl. The fire left her body leaving her body behind. Her skin didn't look charred, instead it looked like a polished black, as if somebody had shined it with hours of dedication, her hair looked deathly pale, a silver white color, the carved symbols shone, in a pure deep purple.

She no longer looked like a girl, but a monster, one that didn't move a single muscle. The whole room fell into silence, nobody wanted to miss what would happen next, Tharja kept her eyes like all the others, with her heart in her throat, the next moment would determine if the cleansing was really a success or like all the rest. They all looked, hoping for any kind of movement. " _Do something dammit!_ " Tharja clenched her fists, and looked directly at the girl, her knuckles were white from the sheer force of her grip, " _I need to see you, I need to know you, just exactly are you?"_

A forceful gasp resounded through the still room. The air stood still as a lone figure started gasping for air, she was still alive. Everybody stood still, like fish looking at the surface, unsure, terrifies and most of all intrigued. The black covering her skin seemed to recede in her skin, turning into a snow-like color. Tharja looked where all the color went; the symbols seemed to disappear within her skin leaving nothing in her skin, almost as if it didn't happen, however there was a new symbol on her, one on her right hand, had the same color as her previous marks, yet this one had a more sinister vibe, it looked perverse.

"The mark of Grima..."

As soon as she said that everybody in the room fell to their knees, bowing profusely and submissively on the floor. Without even noticing it, Tharja was with kneeling too. After some minutes Validar stood up, and slowly unchained Robin.

"My daughter, the vessel of Grima, has finally accepted the blood and soul of death itself, Grima will be reborn!"

As his snake-like voice echoed through the room an ominous atmosphere came over the room, as if they knew what would happen, their eyes peeled open, they looked crazed, deprived and completely lost in her. Robin started shaking, cold sweat covered her body and if someone were to touch her they would feel her burning skin. She opened her eyes, only to see the people around her, tears started pouring from her face, she truly wanted to die.

(/_-)

Mustafa looked frantically for him, she needed him and he knew that. He searched through the barracks and the training hall but it wasn't until he reached the mess hall that he found Gaius eating a pie in one of the corners. Gaius turned his head back with disappointment after seeing Mustafa's face.

"Hey old-timer, what's got your smallclothes in a twist?"

"Do you know about the cleansing?"

"What's it about?"

"You might not like how this story goes..."

(/ .□.)\ ︵╰(゜Д゜)╯︵ /(.□. \\)

Gaius sprinted through the hallways, he had been to her room several times, yet this time it seemed more heavily guarded than before. " _If what he said is true I need to see her now."_

He tried going in through the front door like he always did, but after seeing three heavily armed guards he decided to try someplace else, the window.

As Gaius stood in the gardens he could see her window, her window had one benefit to it, it was not an archer's slit and therefore it was easier to go inside, just like some windows in the library. He climbed as stealthily as possible, only slipping once or twice. He reached the height of the window, slowly opening it. When Gaius peered inside he found a small bundle of white hair, crying relentlessly in a corner of the room. It was raining outside.

"Bubbles?"


	7. Chapter 7: I won't leave you alone

**Author's note: Yay! Another chapter! I'm sorry for my previous delay, but college did suck my life energy for the past two weeks for exams. I wanted to do this chapter for a while and it's actually one of the scenes I thought before even writing this story. I hope you guys like it.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own a single character from Fire Emblem, what I do own is this story, which I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I had fun writing it.  
**  
Chapter 7: I won't leave you alone

"Bubbles?"

He slowly dropped onto the floor, slowly making his way towards a shivering Robin. He carefully extended his hand, fearful that if he touched her he could break her, she looked so fragile, breakable, this was not the bundle of energy he knew and cared for, " _Just what exactly happened to her?_ "

Just when he was about to touch her arm he heard her.

"Don't touch me, don't even come near me!"

"And you'd think I'd do that! Robin, I can't leave you like this!"

She was visibly shaken by what he said, her arms uncurled from her legs and she lifted her face up to him. Tears traced every part of her face, her lips were swollen and her nose looked red, yet the thing that caught his attention was her snowy hair, it looked almost unreal.

"I can't say it any other way... please, Gaius, leave me alone..." it sounded almost like a whisper, with raw and broken emotions in every word. His heart was beating soundly against his chest, his sugar was running low, almost as much as his patience. He grabbed her hands and wrapped them around his neck, he let her head fall in the nook of his neck and as he held her back he mumbled softly.

"Robin, I wouldn't leave you now for all the candy in the world."

As soon as he said that she started sobbing, it wasn't the small cry from earlier, but a downpour of emotions. Gaius could only hold her as she cried, he didn't know what to do, or what to say, but hearing her cry like this made him feel at ease, he was there for her and that was all that mattered to him in this world. He softly patted her hair, it smelled the same, the smell of moldy books, grass and sweat. " _This is Robin, she is still my Robin, she's here._ "

Between small whimpers she chuckled softly and said, "You called me Robin, twice even."

A small smile jerked the corners of his mouth, "Damn I slipped up, well don't worry, I'll be sure to call you Bubbles next time."

"Shouldn't have said anything then."

"Don't lie, you know you love this nickname."

"Not in this lifetime!"

"Then I'll be sure to tell you in all the different lifetimes we have, at least till you love it"

"Then I'm sure to hate all lifetimes ahead of this one"

"Harsh. So now, can I know what really happened?"

He knew this wasn't a good conversation theme, but she needed to get it out of her chest and the sooner the better. She loosened her arms around him and looked at him in the eyes.

"I'm meant to be something more than Robin now, ever since I was born I was destined to be something more than what I am, or at least was. You see, my fa...I mean Validar has something even more powerful than royal blood, he has divine blood, and therefore can pass it on towards his children, my mother, she has a relative amount of divine blood, so a marriage, as forced as it was for her, was inevitable, Mustafa told me most of this, and the rest I learned it from some of the priests. My mother had many children before me; they all died, after the cleansing." She turned somber after this, as if everything she had told didn't hut her as much as the rest did.

"What is the cleansing?"

"It's kinda complicated. It's a sort of process that means a lot more than what I know, some of the few things that I know is that now my body isn't meant only for me now. There are not many books that talk about it and everybody treats it as taboo whenever I ask about it, I only heard Validar telling me that I needed to prepare myself for it. And the whole thing itself was bizarre as it is, I don't even remember a thing, the only differences I have are my hair and my heart, it feels weird. It beats normally yet it doesn't sound like it should."

Gaius could see she was growing distressed from everything she was saying. " _I need something to calm her down, and quickly._ "

He stretched his hand towards where her heart was, she was visibly surprised and the only thing cuter than her blush was her shocked face. After waiting a couple seconds he simply said, "Feels like a normal heart to me."

He liked seeing her face all lit up like this, so he was just going to take it a step further. He leaned his heart against where her heart was. Gaius heard her heartbeat quicken and he knew her face probably had a fluorescent red color. It did sound different, but it didn't sound inhuman, he could still hear Robin in her every heartbeat.

"And this sounds plenty human to me! You seem ok to me, so smile, please?"

"If I ever feel inhuman, please tell me you'll be there."

His hand reached slowly to cup her own in his, she needed all the support she could get.

"Not only me, we'll all be there for you, I promise you. I won't leave you alone."

As he was saying that he took a peppermint taffy from his pocket and gave it to her, these were some of her favorite.

(っ˘̩╭╮˘̩)っ

He slowly crawled out of the window, until he dropped onto one of the bushes.

As he was leaving the place as quietly as possible he heard some rustling in some bushes near him, his spy training started to kick in and he wanted to investigate where it came from . He soon saw a girl in skimpy clothing looking at Robin's window.

"So you're gonna tell me who you are or it's straight to the gallows?" He didn't really want to throw her there but he didn't like people this close to Robin now of all times, so he slowly started taking his knives out with an unfriendly look on his face.

"What's her name?"

The question shocked him completely, he was supposed to be the one asking the questions. He wasn't going to let her get away with this.

"Answer first."

Irritation filled her every feature yet she still answered, "Tharja. Now tell me who is she?"

As much as he didn't like her no-friends face she didn't seem like a threat, if anything it looked like she wouldn't do anything to her other than maybe stalking.

"Robin. If you want to know more you should ask her yourself, if anything, I think she needs as many people by her side as possible"

"Whatever you say."

Gaius went to see Henry, he also needed to see how Robin for himself and she would also want to see him too, Henry was part of her too.


	8. Chapter 8: Changes

**Authors note: Hello again! Here is another chapter, it took me quite some time to think about how I should write this chapter, especially since we will finally be moving into some game territory in a couple of chapters (´** **), it's been a long time overdue and I didn't expect this story to be as long as it was. I just finished my first semester in college and it was a bit harder than expected, so I didn't have much time to write. Sorry :(. By the way big shout out to anyone that gets all the small references hidden within.**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing from Fire Emblem, I only own this story.**

Chapter 8: Changes

The sun creeped down Robin's window, she didn't want to wake up, images flashed trough her mind, of Gaius and of Henry, she'd have to tell them the full story, or at least what she knew, yet part of her wanted to cling to the past and remain with the simple image of the three of them as they were.

 _"They will probably hate me when they know who I really am, or what I am..."_

Suddenly a loud noise abruptly broke her train of thought and made her jump to her feet.

"CAW CAW"

"Hey-o Robin, didn't know whether to wake you or not, you seemed to be having a nice dream, what was it about? Was there blood and suffering? Was I in it? By the way did my crow startle you? Sorry about that, it's just that it seemed excited to meet you. Nyahaha!"

Henry looked over at her curiously, Gaius had told him mostly the basics of what happened; yet he didn't expect that her hair would actually be white, guess he was right. He noticed that Robin was looking at her too, with a worried look around her eyes.

 _"Is it beCAWs I'm in her window...Probably not."_

"So Robin, I was wondering if you had something to do today, beCAWs I wanted to invite you into town, I mean, well you look like you need a day off and we can spend the whole day with the crows and probably check out some tomes that just arrived, ooooh I heard there was one that could make people's eyeballs pop out, and also one that helped you transform, or at least make the illusion of a transformation, wouldn't that be fun? I could probably turn into a crow, and you could probably turn into a bunny, a really cute dead bunny. Wouldn't that be amazing? I already asked Gaius to come and he said he might try to sneak from training with Jaffar."

Robin stood there, looking at him, her eyes lighting up at the idea of going outside, she barely got outside, when she did leave it was with the help of Gaius, but with Henry she could probably leave without anyone noticing. The possibilities were endless and she could just feel some warmth in her heart.

"Yes! I would love to, I don't think I need to do anything today, so when are we leaving?"

As soon as she said that he heard a knock at her door, and a grey and snake-like voice on the other side. It was Validar.

"Robin, your lessons start today, leave this room immediately..."

Robin knew that if they were to catch Henry they would really hurt him at best, so she had to do something.

 _"He's at the window... with a crow on his head... and with a dark magic aura around him that was sure to make him stand out...Hey I've got it, I need something to hide his aura, light magic might work."_

In a low whisper she calmly said over to Henry, "Hide under my bed"

Henry slightly blushed at this statement, but obeyed nonetheless, this was his first time in a girl's room, and it was Robin's no less. As soon as he crept under, leaving the crow in the window, Robin covered him with a blanket and whispered some quiet words into it, that's when it dawned on Henry what she was doing, this was to protect him. He kept quiet and thought about any hexes he might know to hide himself. The blanket was meant to hide his aura, something that emanated from everyone, mages were especially sensible to these, and could detect the aura of other mages easily. Both Henry and Robin knew that the blanket could only hide so much of his essence, so he had to help her too. He used a concealing hex on him, one that's meant to make your aura appear smaller. As soon as she managed to cover him up she went and opened the door. Validar stood there, with priests at his sides. Although they looked less than the usual amount, one or two priests were missing, as Robin noted, and this never happened...something is wrong.

Robin soon left the room, leaving Henry behind with a dejected face. Henry crawled from under the bed cautiously; he lifted the hex and slowly left the room.

 _"Her sheets smelled nice..."_

Without even noticing it Henry's face was covered in a red blush.

(｡´ ‿｀ )

Robin left for the library following Validar slowly, his movements seemed weirder than usual, instead of his slow and methodical snake-like movements his arms moved differently, as if they were striking. Robin could see that he was on edge, the missing priests, and his movements something was going on. They reached a big door within the library, with a quiet and eerie aura around it, someone was inside, she could sense his aura from here, and he slightly terrified her, she hadn't seen this type of aura before, it's not that it was strong, but it was just unusual. Validar opened the door and as she peeked inside she found a big cylindrical room stacked with books, rare texts that she had only ever dreamed of getting her hands on, advanced magic and strategy encyclopedias as well as combat books that she hadn't ever heard of. In the middle there was this old man, who sat in an almost regal position, the aura that emanated from him was completely overpowering, it wasn't strong, yet just looking at his aura made Robin feel unworthy and forced her to bow her head.

"Lord Julius, I have brought her to you, I hope she will prove herself to be a worthy disciple to you."

 _"Lord Julius! He is the grand tactician of Plegia, I have only ever heard of him referenced in history books as one of the greatest masterminds in the field of tactics, I thought he was merely a legend, as he's kept as an occult person, some historians even believed Julius to be a council of the biggest geniuses in all of Plegia that worked to win wars and even toppled governments. I thought it was a council too, an individual that brilliant was deemed practically impossible. And I will be his pupil!"_

Robin instantly bowed; she didn't know how to react under such an individual.

"I hope I can be a worthy pupil, please accept me as one!"

"Everyone but the girl may leave."

Robin saw as Validar did a small bow and leave the room with his priests in tow, she had never seen someone talk like that to her father and obey to readily. Her hands were trembling and cold sweat made her cloak stick to her back.

"Stand up, girl. And tell me your name."

"Robin, sir."

"Tell me, what is the most important thing a tactician must have?"

The most important thing, there were so many elements that came into play when making tactics, she could not just pinpoint one. She knew there was something, something that drew her to answer the question in her own way.

"...Wisdom..."

"And why is that?"

"It helps you determine what is important, what you should do and how you should do it, how to take advantage of what you have and which weaknesses you have. Wisdom helps you see what other people can't"

"Is that your final answer?"

"Yes, Lord."

"I will never tell you if you answered correctly or not, for there is no right answer for this. That is something that you as a tactician should determine yourself. You should learn to trust what you have said and be ready to stand behind it with everything you've got. I think you answered appropriately enough to be my pupil, however it will not be meant to be easy. What do you know about the world around you?"

"Barely nothing, I'm not allowed to leave much..."

"Change that, I want to know a full report, from you, on the activities that happen in the Grima council, and you must find a way to obtain the information in five days time. I will compare the information of what you get with what I obtain, as I am a member of the council."

Her eyes widened, why was he asking this of her? This was insane, the Grima council was one of the most guarded places in the whole palace, only a small select group of people were allowed inside and outside of that small group no one knew what happened.

 _"This assignment is meant for her to fail and learn... I wonder though, if she might prove capable of doing so. If she manages to know then there is something special in this girl."_

"The only assistance you shall receive from me is in the form of the books that surround us. I shall not say anything more to you on the subject. And on that note, I shall take my leave."

Julius stood up, quietly, he was old, but not weak. His body was slightly curved and his knees were bent, yet his face had plenty of scars and his dark skin hid impressive green eyes that intimidated anyone that looked directly into them.

"Thank you, Lord Julius."

"Drop the "Lord", you should call me Master, girl."

"Yes, Master."

"Acceptable."

The door closed and Robin looked around herself, she had an impossible task ahead of her yet she needed to do it, she would do it to the best of her abilities and manage to gain access to the Grima council.

 _"Why does he want me to know what is happening in the Grima council? There must be more than just a mere task behind this. Well if anything I need to start from somewhere, let's see if there are any useful books here."_


	9. Chapter 9: Strategy?

Author's note: This chapter took again some time to publish and for that I'm sorry, I need to find a good period of time in which I can write, writing in the bus is not the best plan and my schedule doesn't allow much time for me to write. So I'm doing the best. Here is a full chapter written on busses, cars, and in-between classes. By the way, Fates is almost out, I can barely wait, more character, more stories and more amazing gameplay, it's gonna be an amazing game.

Disclaimer: I own nothing from Fire Emblem, all that is owned by Nintendo. I only own this story which has finally started uploading again .

Chapter 9: Strategy?

Henry started looking around the library, he still wanted to spend the day with Robin so looking for her was important. He was tracking her aura when he bumped head-first into a large wooden door.

"Yep, that's her aura if I've ever seen it"

As the grin spread around his face he walked inside to see a part of the library he had never seen before, and at the center of it there was a small slumped over figure with white hair, completely enthralled in a pile of books in front of her. Henry walked closer to Robin, looking at her hair.

"Its color is similar to mine, but hers looks slightly softer, almost as soft as raven feathers nyahaha maybe even softer."

His hand stretched out slightly nervous, trying not to scare her. As soon as his hand touched her head, she jerked up startled, looking directly at his eyes. Henry grew an even wider smile and ruffled her hair.

"So it is true, nyahahaha you have soft hair!"

Robin started laughing, Henry had always managed to do this, lighten her up with just a small comment of phrase.

"What'cha reading there?"

"Strategy books mostly, I need to see how to do something..."

"Oooh, is it something dangerous, something that has to do with death, or blood, or death with blood? Can I help you?!"

His sheer enthusiasm felt like a window had been open in the ghost-like room, he was already mumbling under his breath several spells, some more advanced than what Robin knew, yet whenever he came in she couldn't help but smile.

"Well I kinda need to plan something amazing."

"Nyahaha good thing I came along then, I wanna help too!"

"So do you know about the Grima council?"

"Does it bleed?"

"Not exactly, at least I hope not."

"Well darn, I'm no good then, nyahaha."

"I need to find a way to infiltrate it, get inside and hear what the council members say, the thing is, it's almost impossible, I don't even know where it's going to be, the only thing I know is when..."

"It'll be kinda hard if you don't know what everyone is doing or saying."

"Henry... I think you just gave me the answer I need, first I need to track only a couple of people, the most important members in here, one of them is surely bound to go, the only thing is that I can't follow Master Julius, that's close to impossible considering how easily he would notice any attempt I make... but I can follow Validar, he's not exactly perceptive of anything smaller than him, so I could sneak a small team to track him. The issue now is that it needs to be something so small that he will either not notice it or ignore it completely. Although I can't solely follow him..."

Robin picked up a crumbled piece of parchment and started drawing, she got completely absorbed in it, Henry stayed and occasionally gave in some comments or suggestions. If anything could help Robin then he would do it, and he was not as bad in tactics as he pretended to be.

A cold desert night creeped through the corners of the room. Her hands were clamped and covered with ink-stains and Henry's was just the same. She needed to know some small elements of the palace layouts to finish her plan, but other than that she was perfectly set. As soon as she looked up she saw Henry as a bundle of messy hair on the table, sleeping.

"I think I should do the same thing, besides it's comfortable here anyways."

However something felt slightly different in the room, almost like there was something that she was not seeing.

"I'm just too tired to care anymore."

Suddenly a loud thud in the table made her jerk up, scared, only to find Gaius in front of her, with a bag of sweets on the table.

"Hey-o Gaius, what's up?" mumbled Henry.

"Funny you should ask, I waited for you guys in our usual spot but apparently you were busy napping." even though what he said was mean he had a crooked smile in his face.

"You came looking for us?"

"Not exactly... I just found these laying around and well, it's better to share them isn't it? I thought you guys would like them."

"Nyahaha Gaius? Sharing sweets? Grima has resurrected! Oh there will be blood, now tell me what did you do to the Gaius we love and hate?"

"Calm down Henry, haha darn it, next time I just won't be nice."

Robin started to dig in into the sweets, they were simply amazing, especially the chocolate. Being in Plegia meant not many candy was available, so chocolate was pretty much a rare item, a delicious and extremely rare item. After some time Robin started noticing something strange, like something out of place. She looked around the room, followed slowly by a cautious Gaius and a smirking Henry. It felt weird, whatever she felt didn't seem hostile so she thought about trying something interesting.

"Hey! I know we probably don't know each other well, but would you like to share some sweets with us? I swear I'm not a bad person."

"Or so you say Bubbles..."

As soon as Robin turned around to punch Gaius, a small woman appeared from the shadows. She had black luscious hair and was dressed rather skimpily, even though she was about the same age as them.

"So there you were! I was wondering why something felt different."

"You could sense that?"

"Well yeah, was that wrong?"

"Nyahaha that's a really high level dark magic hex, I can't even master it fully yet."

"Interesting... I'll think about it later, now, tell me, what's your name?"

"...Tharja..."

"Well met Tharja, my name is Robin, the orange one is Gaius, and this is Henry."

"The ORANGE one?! That was low, even for you it was a new low."

"Payback"

And with a cocky grin Robin extended her hand over to Tharja. As soon as Tharja grabbed her hand a sinister giggle escaped her lips.

"...I think I like her..."

As soon as Tharja said that, she was swept in a conversation about tactics and the appropriate consistency of sweets, which evolved into a full on debate between between Robin and Gaius.

ଘ(੭*ˊᵕˋ)੭* ̀ˋ

Robin was on her way to her room, careful not to make too much noise. She spent most of her night walking around the castle courtyard, everything felt slightly different, and she wanted to take all of these old corridors with the new sensations she was feeling. Touching every corner and crevice felt interesting, it was new yet also known, the feeling was quite interesting for her. She still felt insecure about everything, she looked human and felt human, yet there was something new to her, Gaius had told her how he felt, which really helped her a lot, but she didn't know when will more changes start appearing, and if she would still be herself in the future with all of these things happening to her.

She turned a corner only to find a small crow in the window, it looked at her with piqued interest, moving slowly to where she was sitting. A small smile appeared on Robin as she started stroking its back.

"He seems to really like you!"

"He?"

"Yeah he told me so, I think you met him this morning"

"That's good, so tell me what's his name?"

"Herbert! Sounds nice and royal no?"

"Hahaha sounds kind of goofy but I think it works"

"Hey Robin..."

"Yeah?"

"Don't worry..."

"What do you mean, Henry?"

"Oh c'mon, you know I'm not good with mushy feelings and such! What I mean is that no matter what may happen to you, we will be there to help you, I will be there for you too. You were already there for me, so now it's my turn to be there for you. And I will help you not to worry about whatever is weighing on you, I can share that weight with you. That's what I'm here for...Robin are you okay?! You're crying! I'm so sorry I never meant to make you cry, darn it, I rehearsed it and everything. Can Herbert help? Robin hmph!"

Robin wrapped her arms around Henry and cried, she was so happy, she never thought she had this kind of people around her, and the overwhelming feeling of gratitude hit her like a flooded gate.

"I'm not sad, Henry, I'm just extremely happy, I feel that I can breathe easier. Thank you..."

"Nyahaha crying because you're happy? You're really weird Robin..." as he said that he wrapped his arms around her too.

They stayed like that for a couple of minutes, until Robin's arms slowly let go of him. Somehow Henry missed her warmth, but he thought it was probably because of the desert night.

"I think I've cried enough, I need to learn how to live like this... Again, thank you Henry, I needed that"

"Don't worry, and hey, I'll walk you back to your room"

"Thank you..."

They walked slowly, their steps being the only things that filled the quiet hallway. It was a cold night, as cold as any other, yet Robin knew something inside of her; she was changing, in more ways that she would like to admit, with all the Grima thing going on she was going to need all the help she could get, and she was thankful that she had it, it made things a little easier on her. For now she needed to focus on what was important, the rest could wait.

Before she could even notice it, they had already arrived to her room and were both standing outside of her door. They said their goodbye's and as Henry was closing the door he said something really Henry-like.

"Don't forget to smile, your smile is as cute as a dead puppy!"

And with a last "Nyahaha" the door was closed. Robin changed into her nightgown and slowly fell onto her bed, she was happy and even though her world started falling apart, she would do her best in keeping it together, together with all her friends.

She didn't feel so alone anymore.


	10. Chapter 10: Safe

Authors note: I managed to finally find some hours to write, so I'm exploiting them to their fullest potential. I wanted to send this chapter out as soon as possible because I want to finally move into some game territory in the coming chapters. Please if there are any suggestions send me PM or put it in a comment and I'll be sure to check it and I'll put it in the story. Thank you very much for reading.

Disclaimer: I own nothing from Fire Emblem I only own this story, which I hope you all sincerely like.

Chapter 10: Safe

Robin woke up, only to quickly run into the library, she needed to study more for some spells that might help her get what she wanted. The excitement was practically pouring out from her, almost jogging towards a waiting pile of books. She needed to find that new spell she saw Tharja use. Maybe, if used properly and with the right amount of equipment and skill she could perform it, or at least somebody could perform it on her, that would mean a much easier way to find out what happened in the meeting. She could manage, that was not exactly a hard thing to do. She still needed to find Tharja for the small details that came with applying the hex, but in the meantime she was going to see as much as she could from the hex, especially the side effects.

Hexes had particularly nasty side effects if not done properly, and some even if done properly, that's why some hexes were more powerful than light magic. Hexes required something back from something given, call it "equivalent exchange" that meant that the magic user sacrificed something or someone in order to perform a hex. Anima magic is different, where, instead of using this exchange it based itself on moving the energy that surround the area, anima magic is the manifestation of energy, and requires extensive knowledge of the world and all the elements in it. To fully master both one would need more than a lifetimes' worth of time, if anything to fully master one, a person would need to study and experiment most of their lives.

Robin skimmed through the dark tome, stopping slowly at a small printed word "Eclipse, the user merges with the shadows, becoming unseen to a select number of people. A relatively easy hex, it requires a blood pact with the user as well as small sacrifices such as birds."

"It's missing something..."

Robin scrambled from her chair, with her hands reaching for the closest anima tome she could find to protect herself, only to find Tharja pointing at her book with a displeased face averting her gaze.

"How did you find me here, and more accurately how did you know I was here?"

"I'm always with you Robin..."

"Somehow I don't find that exactly reassuring..." Robin started rubbing the back of her neck in nervousness. Still she was weirdly enthralled as to what she knew about the hex, so she dragged the word stalker to the back of her mind.

"What do you mean missing?"

"It doesn't go into full detail on the side effects, and they make it sound much easier than it actually is. They also miss to say that you need to dark magicians to properly perform this spell."

"And here I was, hoping I would only have to be a bird murderer for this one to work." Tharja felt a blush cover her full face as she thought of an idea that might just get her closer to Robin.

"...I...m-may be...able t-to help you..."

"Really? that would be amazing, you certainly will make the whole thing actually possible, thank you! So when do we start?" As Robin said that a full smile, from ear to ear started forming on her face. Tharja's blush was slowly turning from red to almost purple, her smile was contagious and an eerie smile slowly tucked at the corners of her mouth.

"Right now if you want..."

(ó ì_í)=óò=(ì_í ò)

"So in the end the pentagram has to look like this?"

"Not exactly you're missing some of the corner symbols, you need to spell the words appropriately, fix them here, and also over here."

Tharja was a harder teacher than she thought and she was starting to see the downsides to her teaching methods. Robin was apparently not good with dark magic, if anything she felt that she was actually bad at it. Robins head slumped, they had been at it for some hours and Robin didn't even have a proper meal yet, mostly scrambles of food she found lying around the palace grounds. Tharja lifted up her head as she heard Robins stomach rumble.

"You're hungry"

It wasn't a question and Robin knew it; she didn't mind Tharja, but sometimes some of her antics, especially ones that involved her, were starting to get slightly creepy.

"Don't worry, besides we're almost done right?"

"Not really..." Robins head slumped even more than it did before, she was growing really tired of the whole, dark magic business, but she needed to work this spell with Tharja... unless...UNLESS.

"Hey how about I bring another dark magician? He may be able to help us work the hex and we might actually be able to work this hex!"

"Oh...yeah... that might work." Tharja tried to mask the slight disappointment in her face. Although Robin was right, at this pace they may not be able to do this hex till the next month. But she really wanted to do this hex with her.

Robin stood up and ran outside, looking for whoever the other dark magician was. After a short couple of minutes she returned with a silver-haired boy, and after a couple of tries they were able to perform the hex perfectly, so much that Robin pretty much did disappear.

"Wow guys this is amazing, I knew I could count on both of you, thank you very much!"

Henry started laughing claiming that with such a good hex she could just as well have truly disappeared and nobody would notice it. Now all that Robin needed was to follow her father around to know where it was going to be. However she still thought she was missing something, she couldn't just go in with no exact clue of the castle layout...and she knew just the man for the job.

"And now she's into one of her thinkie times, nyahaha, she goes into them a lot, especially when there is something on her mind!"

"Henry! We need Gaius!"

"Alrighty then, and by the way, you might just want to wait to become visible again."

"Oh, yeah, I kinda forgot about that last part."

ლ(ಠ益ಠლ)

"You have the face of someone that wants something, Bubbles."

"I need some plans of the castle layout."

"Ouch, no curtsey, no kindness?" As he said that a small bag of candy was dropped at his stomach, as he opened the bag he found it full of chocolate, Robins' favorite, and a rare treat over in Plegia.

"How extensive do you want them?"

"Enough for me to memorize the basic layout, I don't need too many specifics."

"Seems easy enough, you'll have it in about a couple of hours."

"Thank you Gaius! I really needed that!"

"Hey don't worry..."

⊂(´･◡･⊂ )∘˚˳°

Robin had been following Validar for a while, and she was growing slightly tired of the whole "following routine". She spent the whole night memorizing the maps Gaius gave her; in case she got lost or needed an escape plan knowing the castle layout would be handy. Validars movements had been repetitive so far, if anything Robin was sure they had been going around in circles around some areas of the castle, and still, nothing. However she needed to keep herself at it, the hex wasn't wearing off anytime soon, and she still needed to go the Grima council.

Suddenly she lost sight of him. A right turn in a left corner and he was gone, as if he had never been there.

"Well that was easier than expected."

A weird turn later Robin was then transported into a dimly lit room, it had a round table with shrouded figures surrounding it. She felt nervous, her hands were truly trembling now, this place sent a chill down her spine. The room felt damp, and even though there were people inside the room it felt terrifying. She scuttled over to a corner to start hearing what they had to say.

"We need to respond more efficiently to the threat of these Ylissean dogs, a response where we don't need to waste any more fruitful sacrifices..."

"Then what do you propose we do? We need to get rid of them as soon as possible, we can't do that without more casualties."

"We now have a goal, the resurrection of Grima, and we must attain this goal, whatever measures necessary. If that means allowing the destruction of some villages, so be it, their lives aren't as worthy of that of Grima, if anything it'll maintain the proper sacrifices safe. "

"That would seem adequate, however we might need to mobilize more troops, the bare minimum at least."

"But wouldn't that defeat the whole purpose of their sacrifice? Validar, have you not heard what I said?"

"I don't think you fully understand my intentions, therefore it would be better if you listen to my plan... I suggest we finish the war by simple measures, killing the King of Ylisse. If we eliminate the main threat their most likely course of action would be to retreat, and the heir to the throne would not seem like one to cause unwanted unrest like her father. The King knows too much of what we're doing and he's trying all he can to stop the resurrection. With Robin now containing the heart of Grima we need the utmost secrecy."

All the hoods turned over to an elderly figure that Robin recognized as he removed his hood, it was his master!

"If that's all that needs to be done I shall see to what I can do. We have no need to use the villages as shields."

"Thank you Lord Julius, you are of invaluable help towards our cause...however are you not sure that the villages would not be an optimal shield?" and with that low snake-like hiss he sat down, looking inquisitively at her master.

"I believe I have already stated my course of action, Validar. There is no need to use the villages"

"I just hope that what you say is true, Lord."

Validar never referred to someone else as "lord", the atmosphere felt charged. There was clearly something that Robin was missing.

"I have no desire of remaining here any longer, I'm needed somewhere else." As soon as Lord Julius stood up, the whole room stood and bowed. He moved slowly to the entrance, and looking around slightly, his eyes falling in the corner where Robin was hiding. Robin took that as her cue to leave and as soon as he left the room she followed slowly afterwards. She was engulfed in a quiet light only to find herself in a completely different part of the castle. She started running over to the library, she needed to hear what her master had to say. There was something she was missing and she needed to know what it was.

She stumbled upon the cylindrical room to find her master sitting in a chair in the middle of the room; tactical treaties and strategy books were scattered around the desk.

"So, what did you think of the council, child?"

"I feel like there's something I'm missing, there is something big that I don't know and it involves my future. Validar knows what it is," her hands were trembling, she was utterly terrified, there was a war outside, one for which people suffered and died, "and the people fighting outside, don't know a thing of what's really behind."

"And yet you barely know the rest of the story...child, do you know who I am?"

"I know you're Lord Julius, the Grandmaster tactician, I know you conjured up a thousa-"

"You're missing something important there too, my pupil"

Her eyes widened, she really did know nothing, and it felt all too real now.

"I am no master tactician, for I couldn't protect what was more vital to me, and therefore I find myself bound to a mere puppet."

"But that's not true, you're the leader of the plegian troops, someone like that could never be a puppet!"

"Do not interrupt me child, you have yet to hear who I am, I'm the father to Eirika, who has been kept here with a knife pointed at her throat, and the knife is you, child..."

Robin stood still, her hands no longer trembled, her blood stopped running. Without even noticing it, tears started rolling down her cheeks, her knees buckled and she covered her face with her hands. The shame was overwhelming, she screamed as if her body where on fire, she wanted to throw up.

"A tacticians task is to maintain as many people alive as you can. My mistake was to have people I was close too, do not repeat the same mistake, you'll spare the most lives that way, my grandchild."

Her head was in pain; it felt as if it were crushed by a thousand tones, and what was left was pure, raw pain. Between sobs she slowly whispered.

"I want to keep everyone safe, I need to keep them safe, but I'm the one that may hurt them, they may force me to hurt them."

Suddenly an image popped into her mind, the image of Gaius reassuring her, of Henry hugging her and of Tharja smiling at her. Even if she wanted them to leave she knew she couldn't do that, to them and to herself. She probably needed them more than they needed her. She wouldn't want to do this decision without them; she needed to think about this in a different way.

"Yes my child, you may, and probably will, hurt them."

"No."

"What did you say child?"

"I will not hurt them, I will do my best to keep us together!"

His face was one of anger and pity; he truly did not want to do what he was doing; yet he saw no other option that would spare her the pain.

"We'll see about that, retire now."

And with those words she quietly left the room, with a sinking feeling of dread in her throat.


	11. Chapter 11: I need to protect you

**Author's note: Yay! Another chapter. I had some trouble finishing this one up; still I think it came out all right. I got a bit excited and wanted to move faster so we could finally go into some game territory. I've also been taking advantage of every single free period I could get, which because of exam season have been rather scarce. However, writing this seems to calm me down so it's something that I look forward to. By the way does anybody have Fire Emblem Fates? And if you do, which version? I'm right now finishing Conquest and I can just say that I love it. Oh and by the way, I just changed the last chapter (10) there was something about the ending that just didn't sit right with me. So I hope you like the reviewed chapter.**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing from Fire Emblem Awakening, all that is owned by Nintendo and Intelligent System, whom I thank for making an amazing game.**

Chapter 11: I need to protect you

Gaius bolted out of his small shared room; his hands were wrapped tightly around a piece of parchment. There was a word bouncing around in his head.

Relocation

He needed to find Robin and tell her what happened. Maybe she could fix this, maybe he wouldn't have to leave and this order was just a lie. He was running so fast he almost didn't notice Henry in a similar predicament. They both looked at each other in silent understanding and went around the castle looking for her. Gaius went to her room only to find it empty, and Henry had similar results over at the library. Tharja probably knew where she was but they were sort of unwilling to find her.

"Any sign of her, Junior?"

"Where did the name come from? And to answer your question, no."

"I think we have no other choice than to find Sunshine."

"Oh you mean Tharja? Nyahaha that nickname actually fits her nicely."

"Well there's no need to stall it any longer, we need to find her." After mumbling that he started looking around them, as creepy as she was, they could always count on her to be reliable enough to know where Robin was.

Finding Tharja was easier said than done, however after an hour they finally stumbled upon her looking distraught in a corner of a castle. From the look in her face they both knew she didn't know either. So they decided to group up to make a plan.

"Just to make sure, why are you of all people are looking for her? I know why I want to find her, if anything we were meant to be together, however I won't accept your help until I know what you're planning."

"Ha! You're certainly not pulling any punches, are you, Sunshine?"

"What did you call me?"

Gaius knew that this conversation would not lead to anything productive, so he had to steer the conversation, and fast.

"Never mind that, we need to find Robin. If you want my reason it's in this letter. Apparently I am to be relocated by tomorrow morning."

"Uuuuh isn't that a coincidence, nyahaha. That seems to be my exact same scenario, are you by any chance copying me? Nyahaha, that's new!"

"..."

"Well ignoring that, we still need to find where Robin is."

The three of them were huddled together, absorbed in their different plans and scenarios on what they could do to find her. They were so absorbed in their planning that they didn't notice the growing shadow of Mustafa behind them. Gaius, Tharja and Henry finally turned around, with perplexed expressions. It dawned on Gaius that Mustafa could probably know something, about Robin or of the relocation; although he did look surprisingly stiff.

"Mustafa! Do you know anything about-"

"You have been called over by Lord Julius, he said he's expecting you over by the library, I trust you know where he means."

"Wait! Mustafa!"

"I must leave...I'm sorry boys..."

As they watched his back grow smaller in the distance Henry spoke up, "He seems solemn...I wonder what happened." his mumble was only loud enough for Gaius and Tharja to hear, but part of him wanted to reach Mustafa.

Tharja turned around and faced the other two boys, "Well we can't dwell on that now, Lord Julius probably know where Robin is." She slowly turned and walked towards the library, and although she was trying her best to hide it, she felt dread piling up in her stomach.

"They probably feel the same too..."

She released a breath she didn't know that she was holding, and looking ahead of her she thought, "We all feel the same. We're all doing this for her."

Her light jogging turned into a brisk walk, Henry and Gaius quickly caught up with her, and looking at each other to confirm their resolve, they walked towards the library.

(⊃◜⌓◝⊂)

Lord Julius was looking down. He knew how this would go, they would fight back, to try something, they wouldn't just comply obediently, however he hoped that they would understand his reasoning. Julius eyed their files; Gaius, age 17, spy-in-training with surprising amount of skill in thievery; Henry, age 16, dark mage, with an incredible magic prowess; and finally, Tharja, age 18, dark mage, with a powerful dark magic lineage. Tharja's lineage was tricky to go around without getting attention, so he only managed to make her a foot soldier for Gangrel; the other two were easier to relocate. One being sent to Ylisse as a spy/thief and the other to Carrion Isle for research in black magic. This was the easiest way to help Robin and keep her friends generally "intact".

A distinct knock came at his door and after a firm "Come in" did three figures appear in the room.

"Good evening, have a seat." Henry and Tharja sat down, although a bit reluctantly.

"Cut the chase old man, just tell us what you want form us." Gaius was standing up, and started taking a lollipop out of his wrapper. He was trying his best to sound composed and cool, although inside he was trembling, he just hoped it didn't show as much. He wanted to keep talking but a hard look from Lord Julius was enough to freeze him on the spot.

"Gaius, I take it, and you two must be Henry and Tharja. Well if you so desire to know I'll tell you. I've relocated all of you for reasons concerning Robin's safety," at this Henry paled, feeling a sudden murderous aura surround him, whatever threat to Robin he would kill it, blood would spurt everywhere, and they would suffer for it.

"You present a great threat towards her freedom and safety, therefore you shall all be relocated."

As he finished the room suddenly grew deathly quiet. Their mouths hanged open in utter surprise. It suddenly dawned on Tharja what was going to happen to her, she was the first one to speak.

"What do you mean "threat" if anything Robin would be better protected with me- I mean with us at her side. You have no right to call it so!" Tharja was terrified, not being next to her Robin was more than she could bear. She would not leave Robin behind, but for her safety? Was she really a threat?

"I have no desire to continue further this futile conversation. You are to leave Castle Grima by tomorrow morning, you are excused, children." His voice resonated throughout the room. Usually Gaius would object, or even Henry, asking the typical 'what if I don't do it?' however the way he said it, the way he looked, left no room for discussion. There was no other thing but to do it, at least in their minds.

They left the room with their tail between their legs. Tharja crumpled as if a bag of rocks were thrown upon her; tears slowly started spilling down her cheeks, pooling on her knees.

"Is there really no other way?"

Nobody wanted to answer that question, they knew no other way to answer it. Gaius left her to cry to her hearts content. As soon as she stopped Henry left them, saying he wanted to go to his room to pack everything. Gaius accompanied Tharja to her room and left slowly, almost as if he were ambling through the castle. It was just overwhelming, leaving her behind...he didn't want to do that...but what else could he do. He wasn't strong enough to protect her, he wasn't skilled enough. He would need to learn, he still needed to grow at least so that he could protect her. But leaving her didn't feel good, even if it was to learn how to protect her. He was only good in being a spy-in-training. He wasn't even close to being an assassin; Gaius couldn't protect her even if he tried his best at it. But he must follow what Lord Julius said; he was strong, wasn't he? He was wise, wasn't he? He could protect Robin...he hoped. He didn't like leaving her in the hands of someone that wasn't him, but he felt so small when Lord Julius talked, so completely pitiful. It didn't matter that he was getting better in being a spy, if he could do nothing for Robin, if he was a threat to Robin, what good would any skill do him. He felt anger boiling up in his stomach; a complete sense of despair surrounded him. His hand crashed against a wall, as if trying to dispel his despair. He could see that a bruise started forming in his knuckles. He knew he wouldn't be able to sleep tonight.

(ﾉಥ益ಥ）ﾉ ┻━┻

The next morning they left without much fuss, they hadn't seen Robin and could not find her; yet part of them didn't want to find her, they didn't want to say goodbye, it would be as if finally accepting that they had to leave. They looked at each other as they parted with their respective platoons; Henry had a disturbingly stiff smile, Tharja looked sullen, and Gaius looked empty, with no emotion on his face. They didn't want to look back. They needed to protect her, and they could only trust Julius with the things they didn't know.

(-'.'-)

Robin didn't know how to take the news. She wanted to feel anger, to explode and demand their return, however she felt nothing. As if there were a void where her feelings had been. She slowly ambled away, but her knees slowly turned to rubber and she crumbled in a sobbing rage. She didn't care who saw it, clearly they wouldn't do anything, nobody would really care. To them she was just an instrument, another puppet in their twisted plan. They wouldn't mind hurting her or hurting those near to her. She was so useless she couldn't even keep them all together, she was weak; part of her knew she would never see them again. Her sobs increased to howls, with nobody stopping for anything more than a quiet look.

After a couple more minutes passed she felt a soft, almost hesitant hand placed on her shoulder. She looked up to find her mother. Her sobs quietly became whimpers as she took her mothers hand in hers. It was still so small compared to hers; her mother's hand engulfed hers completely. She slowly stood up and followed her mother.


	12. Chapter 12: Readjusting

**Authors note: Hello again! Well we're finally moving into game territory, sorry for the long wait. I've been trying to work regularly, keeping up a constant writing routine, and even though I went into summer school, I've kept it a relatively constant. And hey, I'd like to ask which chapter 6 (from Fates) did you guys prefer? I've got to go for Conquest. Well without further ado, I hope you enjoy this chapter!**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing from Fire Emblem, all right belong to Intelligent System and Nintendo.**

Chapter 12: Readjusting

Gaius

Gaius ran through the streets in a hurry, he could feel the footsteps loudly behind him. The streets were cold and empty, drenched in night, if it were daytime he could find a way to escape, to melt into the crowd, but as he was right now, his best choice was to run for his life. He saw a narrow alleyway to his left, he turned around and when faced with a wall started to climb it. His nose started bleeding.

"I can't just panic now, I must not loose my focus, if I do, then I'm as good as dead."

He started feeling his way up the wall, lodging his feet and hands in the small crevices he could find. He was almost at the top, if he could just reach it maybe he could...

"Stop right there!"

"Now!" he thought

He grabbed the ledge and pushed himself over to the other side, only to feel a sharp pain in his leg. However he didn't have time to look back, he needed to keep going. The pain only intensified when he fell on the other side of the wall, his leg didn't quite resist the force of the impact. He scrambled to get on his feet as quickly as possible, his leg only seemed lightly grazed, so there was no need for him to worry about it too much. He kept running until he finally left the city. Until the city became a small blur in the distance did he allow himself to rest. After sitting in the grass with a small thump did he fully assess the damage done to his leg.

"Damn, there seems to be more blood than I originally thought, and of course this seems like the perfect time to forget a vulnerary... well," he said as he slowly popped a lollipop in his mouth, "seems like I've got my work cut out for me." He started to slowly bandage his leg, making a mental note to go tomorrow for some vulneraries and salves.

He winced as he strapped his leg a little to hard for comfort. The fact that his life would be hard after leaving the palace was pretty obvious for him, but being sent here to Ylisse as a spy was more trouble than it was worth sometimes. One of the few things that made it worth it was the vast amount of candy; stores lined with shelves upon shelves of candy. Yet however high the amount of candy something didn't sit right with him. All these missions seemed to want to destroy Ylisse from the inside out, if anything, his most recent excursion ruined a nobles life. He planted some document hinting towards a rebellion from the Duke of Themis to stop the campaign from the Exalt; this of course, accounted to high treason, and therefore execution.

"The news was false, of course, as much as the Duke detested the war, he didn't plan to stop it, I don't think he could even if he tried."

Gaius disliked his negligence, bit that was not reason enough to send him to the executioners block. Tomorrow they would most likely find the documents and in a fortnight he would be sentenced and swiftly killed. When doing his research on him he found he had a daughter, a small spoiled teen who could probably manipulate her father, with her best intentions, to do anything. Just seeing her was painful enough, even though they were nothing alike he saw some of Robin in her... Oh who was he kidding? He saw Robin everywhere he looked, in every dream, in every corner; he missed his life in the castle more than anything, but he knew that it would lead to nothing good if he were there. He was here because he wanted to help her, but was he really doing that? He left her, alone, even when he promised he would be there. "There's no helping it," he thought "I did the best I could" he repeated himself. Yet as much as he repeated that he knew that he made a grave mistake.

"So then...what should I do?" He looked at the stars, as if looking for an answer, nothing came, and with a cynical smirk, he returned to give one final look to his wound.

Could he rid himself of this guilt? Maybe if he just came clean? What would Robin do in my place? He wasn't Robin, and he knew that already, however he hoped that if he did what she would do, he would be closer to her, even if it was for just a small time. He took some parchment from his pockets, and after finding some ink and a new piece of candy, he started to write. If he could somehow fix it, he knew that he could...maybe, meet her again.

Tharja

The barracks were small and crowded, however Tharja could walk for great lengths without meeting anybody. It felt nice, not having to force herself to talk with anybody, even if it was for small things such as finding her way around. Yet as pleased as she was she couldn't shake the feeling that there was something missing, she made herself sure that she didn't miss anybody after she left.

They were all only bothersome people, that managed to crawl into her life suddenly...nothing more. When she finally accepted that she felt completely numb, and slowly established a quiet routine. Wake up, shower, eat, train, read, eat again, and finally sleep. When something different happened was when she had to go into battle or something similar, yet all this didn't matter to her.

Her only desire now was to delve into her magic fully and without any interruptions; this was sometimes hard to do, but she always spared as much time as she could to become a devastating dark mage, she seldom cared about her comrades now, and she knew she never would. They were just not worth the bother. She left towards the training grounds after retrieving the required materials, and when she arrived she slowly started drawing circles in the ground in a small and careful manner, the circles and symbols needed to be exact. As she was drawing she felt a pair of eyes on her back, and when she turned around she found the small frame of a black mage looking at her with undisguised interest.

"What do you want?" she growled.

As if sensing the threat she slowly retreated, but with a small amount of defiance she looked at Tharjas feet.

"That is very complex magic you're doing..."

"So? I don't see how that would concern somebody like you."

Her knees were trembling, and Tharja could see the color was draining from her face, yet her eyes were now on her legs, "Well that's a small improvement, better than my feet," she thought.

"P-Please teach me!" she bowed her head in respect as she said that. Tharja looked at her, disconcerted.

"I don't take students..."

"I promise not to slow you down! I want to learn!" she repeated, with her head still low, although she seemed slightly more confident.

"No!" Tharja stormed out of the training grounds, trying her best to arrive to her room without being seen. Tears started streaming down her face, ruining her perfect scowl. As she closed the door behind her she put her head between her legs and whimpered. She missed Robin, she missed her a lot.

"...Damnit..." she whispered as she cleaned her face from the tears. She wanted to return to how it all was. This army held nothing for her, but she stayed because there was no other way to protect her, was there? And even if she left, what would that do? That would certainly not benefit anybody. What could she do to meet her again?

Henry

Henry looked for a pulse, after holding steady for a couple minutes and finding none his smile widened. Although live guinea pigs were always nice, there was something about the dead ones that seemed to allure him, almost as if he could relate to them. He asked the perturbed staff to take the body to his station. He wanted to see if he could bulge its eyes out with a simplified spell, there was a complicated version, but this made it way easier to try in a midst of battle, and if possible, try a way to amplify its range, so that it could take on more than only two or three targets. He had been filling his days mostly with this; the creation or improvement of spells to be used in the battleground. The guinea pigs were usually prisoners of war, or even their own injured soldiers, nobody seemed to miss a couple docen or so missing people so the experiments ran without any visible impediments. Although at first, Henry greatly enjoyed the experimentation, it grew a bit tedious as time went on. He forgot how much time had passed since he arrived, days became weeks and so on, maybe some months had passed, maybe even a year or two, but everything looked the same as the day he arrived.

One of the few things that actually changed was the fact that his ravens could now roam freely inside his quarters, as well as his station. Contrary to popular belief was the fact that they were relatively clean, however this didn't mean that his station was clean or even organized, it was a mess of papers, books, candle wax, lizard tales, and anything Henry could get his hands on.

As he neared his desk he looked back to the staff, "One could say I've been MESSing around, right? Nyahahaha!" His attempt at humor didn't work, if anything the carriers visibly flinched after he finished his joke. "Huh, tough crowd I guess, they may be rather stiff, don't you think?" He cocked his eyebrows while pointing at the body, their expressions were thoroughly confused, so the hauled the body to his station and sprinted back.

"Meh, now that they're gone, you handsome body, lets see what I can do with you." Henry started slowly to repeat the words, if his previous spells were anything to go by, this one would be another success. After what happened in the castle he had grown cold, his smile widened and his eyes closed, most of all his spells became even deadlier. He was growing better at causing pain, and he enjoyed it, a lot. Seeing all that raw emotion in front of him made it almost real, almost as if he could touch it, feel it. He really didn't feel much anymore, so seeing pain was one of the ways he could grow closer to it, almost as if he could feel it again. He right now saw no immediate reason to leave Carrion Isle, it was comfortable, gave him research subjects, and most of all left him to do what he wanted, without any stupid orders to follow. Sometimes they assigned him a certain spell that needed to changed slightly, or to search and if possible create a new hex to be used in battle or torture, but apart from those rare occasions, he found himself free to do what he wanted. Still sometimes, when he looked at the crows that surrounded his desk he couldn't help but wonder sometimes, if he could meet her again.

Robin

Robin saw the plate handed in front of her with empty eyes. Mustafa visibly nudged the food closer in her direction, almost begging her to eat something. She hadn't eaten in days, and at this pace one of the guards would most certainly force feed her if necessary. Since Eirika found her sobbing in the hallway Mustafa and, only if allowed, Eirika, started taking more personal care of her, and strangely enough, Validar didn't care enough to do much. The new child parading around the castle, Aversa, took the little attention that he spent on her; this left Robin, for the most part, in their care. Eirika still didn't know how to approach her daughter, most of her education had been taken over by someone else, be that a nursemaid or any of her tutors.

"Is what I'm doing, the right thing? I've been away for so long, and I truly want to fix things, but when I'm seated in front of her the words just don't come out. I feel afraid, that she'll grow up to be just like me, or even worse." she suddenly noticed the door slowly opened to reveal Lord Julius coming inside. His hands trembled on the doorknob and his eyes darted across the room as he closed the door.

"Eirika, my daughter, I must advice your next course of action, an unexpected course of action has opened a small window of opportunity, if you wish to take it. Do you wish to hear more?" He knew that the chance was small but he felt that she needed to know.

"Please, tell me father." her eyes narrowed, whatever he had to say, she was sure that it would change how everything was right now, for the better or for the worse.

"The current exalt will die shortly, a secret force under my command have started riots across the Ylissean capital. Taking advantage of the commotion, our unit will infiltrate the palace and rid Ylisse of its current exalt, making it look as if his subjects had a hand in his untimely demise. Afterwards, Validars most likely course of action would be to establish celebrations, as dictated of grimreal custom. In the ensuing celebration, it would be possible to escape, I can easily arrange some safe houses on our way, and on its present situation, with the ensuing panic, nobody would notice some refugees in the south of Ylisse. My dear child it's possible to leave here." He looked at her expectantly, her eyes looking directly at him.

"A wise father once told me of the follies of some plans, is it the same father that asks me now to flee, and endure a dangerous voyage, with the grimreal behind my back?"

"It's the same man, my dear." his lowered his head, he knew this wasn't the safest of plans, but it was all he could do now for her, for Robin, damn he owed them as much.

"Then I shall abide by your plan, father." although her voice quavered in doubt she knew that standing behind and questioning herself was not going to help anybody, and she needed to finally do something, for Robins sake, and for her own sake.

Her father looked at her, almost as if he could sense her resolve, and with a grateful smile in his face, he left.

(⊃◜⌓◝⊂)

A month had passed without much change inside the castle, then a new rumor started popping up in conversations, and suddenly, as the official announcement was made, a chaotic happiness erupted in the castle. When Julius received the news he knew that the time had come.

Validar spared no expense in the celebration, although he was a pious grimreal, he would never believe himself above celebration or entertainment. The week spared in preparation sent by quicker than most thought possible, and even Robin, with her downcast look could feel a sort of vibration in the air. When the night of the celebration came, the whole castle looked almost magical. The halls were covered in a golden an purple light, with banners adorning every wall, the scent of spices and food surrounded the castle, as well as bowls filled with exotic and fresh drinks and music, mysterious and rhythmic filled the great hall where the celebrations would take place. Eirika and her daughter only attended for the beginning of the celebrations and before the celebration came in full swing, they had left claiming exhaustion, something not uncommon for the frail Eirika. Eirika looked at her grimreal cape, even though it had a sinister origin she loved it dearly; before it all came crumbling down, this helped remind her of who she was, and surprisingly, it was still in a good condition. She took it and after a short inspection, she covered Robins with it. It still was somewhat big on her, the sleeves covered most of her hands, the hood came down to her nose and the robe almost touched the floor, yet she could not imagine her wearing something more fitting. She knelt down in front of her, lifting the hood only to find Robins curious gaze, a big change, over her general attitude.

"Robin, I'm sorry... for everything, but please know that all I've done has been with your best interests in mind, I haven't been a good mother, but let me do this for you..." she looked at her daughters eyes as tears started pooling in her eyes she was going to do things right, she just wanted Robin to see that, to know that. Tears started forming in her daughters eyes, and as she wrapped her arms around her mother, Eirika released a breath she didn't know she was holding.

They walked slowly towards the stables, only to find Mustafa waiting for them. Eirika suddenly stopped, not even he knew about this plan, how could he...?

"This is a really strong horse, you know? It's good for travel," his voice kept a semblance of calm but cracked when he looked at them directly, "Lord Julius told me that you might need one, he said he would be waiting in the castle outskirts for you, right beyond the west gate..." Eirika visibly relaxed, and walked towards the horse, Mustafa pulled Robin on top of the horse after a brief and sentimental hug, and offered his hand for Eirika to climb. "Please know...both of you, that you will always have an ally in me, I'm sorry things turned out the way they did, I wish it this situation weren't so... I will miss you."

"Mustafa..."

"You're wasting precious time, I hope that fate crosses our paths in the future under better skies...until then...goodbye..."

"I cannot thank you enough, Mustafa, please let us meet again." she spurred the horse and quickly left. Eirika started wiping her eyer, somehow she knew that meeting would never happen. She couldn't look back, or else, she would know for sure that was the last time she would see him.

Ylisse, this was the right choice, no matter how much it hurt to leave people behind, she needed to move forward, for Robin; for the one person who was most precious to her.

(っ˘̩╭╮˘̩)っ

A couple of years had passed since they left Plegia, and slowly, Robin was starting to feel more like herself again. The three of them lived in a small town in Ylisse, in a cottage filled to the brim with books and herbs. Lord Julius managed to live as a mage, something surprising was that in the community, mages, and specially skilled ones, received support and help from the locals; Eirika, on the other hand, managed to become a local schoolteacher. They lived their lives in quiet comfort, despite being so close to Plegia. Robin attended school with her mother and started reading at an astounding pace, she was a shy child, that was for sure, but she was kind and gentle towards everyone.

Everyday, Eirika saw her and knew that she had done the right choice. However the overhanging threat of capture sometime weighed on her, especially when news of plegian bandits were common. When she finally told this to her father he agreed on a change of location, maybe somewhere in Ferox might work. They started planning their escape only for it to be stopped suddenly by a raid. Although the bandits were promptly dealt with, the damage had been done. Eirika had died, and Lord Julius was heavily wounded. Robin however, didn't succumb into depression, instead, she found out what she could do and although she wasn't as good as her mother, she started teaching too. She knew that she had to be strong, for her mother, and for the grandfather.

She missed her mother, greatly, and the only way she could find solace, was in reading about tactics. It felt like the one thing that connected the three of them beyond even death. Above all, she started using her coat again, the one she left Plegia with. She would sometimes get weird looks from the people around her village, for although their origin was no secret, it felt out of the ordinary for it to be looked upon almost daily.

One day, with a clear and warm sky, she decided that it would be a good idea to leave town for a bit, if only to go read upon a small tree nearby. She grabbed a sword and a tome for protection, after putting on her mothers cape, she said goodbye to her grandfather and left home. A strange feeling covered her after leaving the house, still, she kept on looking, after only looking back only once.


	13. Chapter 13: Who am I?

Authors note: Yay! Game territory! Now I won't be able to follow the game chapter by chapter, but I'll do my best to be consistent (story wise). I've been writing almost everyday and I will now have a more consistent upload schedule, at least once or twice a month. I'd also like to thank all the favorites and follows that I've received, I know I've not been consistent or sometimes my story hasn't been so good, therefore I appreciate all the support I've gotten to far. Thank you all!

Disclaimer: I own nothing from Fire Emblem all rights belong to Intelligent System and Nintendo

Chapter 13: Who am I?

The first thing she saw was light, blinding and overwhelming. She then saw two figures, looking questioningly at each other, then back down at her. Wait, who was he? Chrom... somehow she knew that was his name, she'd seen it before, a dream, a nightmare almost, or was it real? The more she tried to think about it the more her head pounded down on her. What happened? Why was she here? And the more she thought about it another question popped up... Who am I?

"Chrom! We have to do something!"

"Well, what do you propose we do?"

"I don't know... Ah"

"I see you're awake now."

"Hey there!"

"There are better places to take a place than on the ground, you know? Gimme your hand." She outstretched her hand, it had purple eyes? Afterwards he took her hand quickly. He looked at her quizzically, as if trying to look for any injuries. There was another girl next to him, a cute and relatively short girl with ponytails, and a third man, who looked sternly into her, almost as if she were a threat...scratch that he did look threatening.

She felt like she had seen them all before...but when? She tried to reach to the back of her mind but the only thing she felt was blinding pain, out of impulse she reached towards her head. The pain soon lifted and he looked at the worried figures in front of her; even the stern man was looking a little bit softer.

"You all right?" he asked. She felt really at ease with him here, with all of them here, the pain slowly lifted and she looked up to him again.

"Y-Yes... Thank you, Chrom" she suddenly noticed the weird look he was giving her, almost as if he didn't expect that answer, wait she understood why, she knew his name even though they had never spoken before, had they? He looked taken aback, but he suddenly melted again into his friendly demeanor.

"Ah, then you know who I am?"

"No, actually. I... It's strange... Your name, it just...came to me..." the stern man looked even more threatening now, the girl just kept looking at her, as if she were noticing weird things about her all the time, and Chrom looked at her with open curiosity. She squirmed under their attention, obviously uncomfortable. How must she look to them?

"...Hmm, how curious. Tell me, what's your name? What brings you here?"

 _Here? Where's here? But most importantly, my name? I know it... Do I? I feel like it's just there, waiting for me, but when I try to reach towards it my head starts pounding. At this point I can only crack a small answer,_ "My...name...?"

 _If anything she looks so small, so confused, damn I wonder what she's doing here. The thing is that she doesn't look like she's from around here; maybe they know something in the town nearby. The way she looks half-asleep, the delicate shape of her face, her white hair most of all she looks- damnit Chrom kick yourself out of it, you barely even know her, this is no princely behavior. What would Emmeryn do?_

Lissa looked at Chrom inquisitively, then back at the woman in front of her. She was looking for any sign of injury but if anything she looked perfectly healthy, if not a bit out of it.

Chroms gaze turned back to her, with even more concern than before. If anything the prince was too trusting for his own good, at least that's what she thought.

"Wait... So you don't even remember your own name? That's certainly something"

Lissas eyes sparked and she pointed towards the woman as if she'd found the discovery of the century, "hey, hey I know this one, I've heard of it, it's amnesia!"

The woman seemed to be taken aback by that, what she was feeling actually had a name, that made her feel a bit better. The armored figure that stood nearby inched closer, with an even more skepticism in his eyes, if that was even possible.

"The way I would call it is a load of pegasus dung, you don't remember your own name but you remember milords name?" The way he was shooting daggers at her made her hands sweat, but she wasn't going to be bullied, not when that was the actual truth. However as strong as she wanted her answer to be, the man did manage to somewhat scare her...not that she would admit it.

"B-but, it's the truth, that's all I-"

"And what if it is true Frederick? Just look at her, we can't leave her here, what kind of Shepherds would we be then?" She may just be a stranger, maybe a traveller, but they really just couldn't leave her here, and if anything, she needed a hand at the moment, and he was willing to help her.

The Fredericks' face turned even more rigid, he looked at Chrom and in a strangely calm voice he said "Just the same, milord. Though I must emphasize caution. 'Twould not do to let a wolf into our flock."

Although what happened to her was actually true, and he was being especially rude, she couldn't deny that he was right, her conditions were suspicious to say the least and she could do nothing to prove otherwise, her head and heart sank. Suddenly it turned into fear as she heard Chroms next words, "Right then-we'll take her back to town, maybe then we can sort this out there."

What were they going to do to her? They looked sufficiently nice but that didn't mean they wouldn't try anything to get information out of her. _"Don't trust strangers"_

She needed to keep calm, "Wait just one moment! Do I have a say in this?" The young girl looked empathetically at her, as if understanding her fear.

"Peace, friend-I promise we'll hear all you have to say back in town. Now come."

She expected her hands to be tied, but when her hands remained free she was strangely surprised, however even though she knew she could run, the presence of the man in front of her made her compelled to follow and the way he used the word "friend" made her at least a bit more calm about the whole situation. This calm, however brought a whole array of questions, who they were, what they were doing there, but she knew that she needed to understand a bit more about her current situation.

"What will you do with me? Am I to be your prisoner?" She felt bad just to say those words, especially when she saw the girl, Lissa, visibly flinch by what she said. She didn't mean to say it rudely, but she did want to know, all this was very confusing.

"Hah! You'll be free to go once we establish that you're no enemy of Ylisse." Said Chrom, and the way he looked back at her, with a good-humored smile, made her believe that he was saying the truth, at least somewhat. The lack of ties as well as the half-hearted standard procedure for supposed "suspicious individuals" made her slightly complacent, however she still felt slightly on edge, and she considered that if anything would happen to her, she could escape, however the Frederick would be tricky, he most definitely didn't look like a pushover, and her best bet would be to disappear with a well placed spell. She started to wonder on spells when she felt a small book in her coat, just having it near seemed to calm her more than she could've thought. With that out of the way she could start wondering on what Chrom just said, Ylisse? What was that? A country? A town? A person? Well it was worth the effort to ask, they seemed nice enough...

"Is that where we are? Ylisse?" Her brow furrowed, her confusion visible. Frederick turned to look at her, with mockery written all over his features.

"You've never heard of the halidom? Ha! Someone pay this actress. She plays quite the fool! The furrowed brow is especially convincing..." He kept on looking at her and although his eyes visibly softened he turned around and quickly covered his face. Chrom looked at him almost as if pleading on her behalf. "Frederick, please. This land is known as the Halidom of Ylisse. Our ruler, Emmeryn, is called the exalt. I suppose some proper introductions are in order... My name is Chrom- but then, you already knew that." He said with a slight chuckle, "the delicate one here is my little sister, Lissa."

Lissa's cheeks puffed, red in indignation, the site was more than a little funny and Robin couldn't prevent a chuckle.

"I... AM...NOT delicate!" Complained Lissa while she raised her hands.

 _She probably is pretty delicate_ Robin thought. Lissa turned around and looked at her, luckily she didn't catch her laughing. "Ignore my brother, please. He can be a bit thick sometimes. But you're lucky the Shepherds found you. Brigands would've been a rude awakening, don't you think?"

Robin had to agree with what she just said however the Shepherds thing kinda surprised her, especially after looking at Frederick with his full armor.

"Shepherds? Do you tend sheep...in full armor?"

"Heh, well it's actually a pretty dangerous job, you can just as Frederick the Wary over here" Frederick straightened up, trying to hide his distaste for the nickname.

"A title I shall wear with pride. Gods forbid one of us keeps an appropriate level of caution. I have every with to trust you, stranger, but my station mandates otherwise." Although he was hostile, Robin could see that he truly meant what he said, "I understand, sir. I would do no less myself. My name is Robin... Oh wow, I just seemed to remember that. Curious...well in any case I suppose that's one mystery solved."

Chrom seemed to think about that name, tossing it back and forth in his mind, he hadn't heard that name a lot. "Robin? Is that foreign? Ah well. We can discuss that later. We're almost to town. Once we-"

"Chrom, look! The town!"

Robin turned around only to find a mountain of smoke in the distance, her eyes widened, fear taking hold of her heart.

"Damn it! The town is ablaze! Those blasted brigands, no doubt... Frederick, Lissa! Quickly!"

Frederick turned back and looked at Robin, "What about her?"

Chrom didn't look back at her, "Unless she's on fire as well, it can wait!"

"Aptly put, milord."

"Let's go already!" said Lissa.

The three of them ran forward, towards the blaze. Robin stood there, with her feet planted to the ground. She could go back, disappear, and probably never see them again, she could flee. Yet she didn't seem to move, her hands were clutched tightly so much her knuckles turned white. With freedom so near to her, and the logical option being so, why didn't she run? She clenched her sword and ran, her legs were still trembling, but the more she ran the less they trembled, she knew she could do it.

 _I need to do something! But what?_

She kept on running towards the fire, determination growing inside of her. Her mind cleared and as she saw the battlefield unfolding in front of her, she took it all in, she could manage this. She knew what to do, and as she approached Chrom, strategies started forming in her mind, wisdom pouring in.

 _This is just too easy._

╭(◔ ◡ ◔)/

Robin stood there. With blood coating her hands and boots, thankfully it was not hers. She only had a few scratches and bruises, strangely she felt at ease, almost as if she were used to bruises and fights, this felt weird. This town, was in complete shambles, and Robin couldn't help but feel sad, almost melancholic, at least not many villagers died, she was worried, especially considering the fact that they could only cover some parts of town. However she had heard that apparently an old mage from a nearby town had helped with the stragglers.

 _Well that's the end of that..._

She turned a corner only to find Chrom talking to one of the villagers. Chrom looked at her and beckoned her forward, she walked towards them, more calmly than she thought possible, they did fight together so her initial nerves towards them were lowered. Suddenly, Lissa barreled towards her hugging her.

"Holy wow, Robin! You were amazing, incredible! Swords, magic AND tactics! Is there anything you can't do? It was really amazing that we were close by." She let go of Robin, with a bright grin illuminating all her face. Chrom chuckled heartily looking at her sister. "You're certainly no helpless victim, that much is for sure."

Although they looked more at ease, Frederick tensed up and looked at her.

"Indeed, she seemed really capable. Perhaps your capabilities may extend to an explanation for how you came here?" Frederick didn't mean for his words to be so hurtful, however he had to do this, and even seeing her flinch would not make him falter, at least not too much.

"I understand your skepticism, Sir Frederick. And I cannot explain why only some knowledge has returned to me. But please, believe me. I have shared all that I know." Her words were melancholic, almost as if regretting that all she knew was that, she probably had a family that cared for her, friends, hobbies, and she lost it all, did anybody miss her? Chrom could sense that, and after looking at her he wanted to offer something, a home, an identity, and he knew a way to do that.

"You fought To save Ylissean lives. My heart says that's enough." She raised her head, a small smile tugged at the corners of her mouth, and his hear swelled.

"And your mind, milord? Will you now heed its council as well?" He wanted to trust her, but the evidence was overwhelming. Frederick turned to Chrom, trying for his liege to understand.

"Frederick, the Shepherds could use someone with Robin's talents. We've brigands and unruly neighbors, all looking to bloody our soil. Would you really have us lose such an able tactician? Besides, I believe her story, as odd as it might be." Frederick sighed; there was no moving his lord once he was set on an idea.

"Thank you...Chrom."

"So how about it? Will you join us, Robin?" She saw his hand extended towards her, she didn't remember her past, but maybe, she could create her own future this way. Her hand reached towards him, "I would be honored."

(⊃◜⌓◝⊂)

"I heard she was an amnesiac."

"She also had a plegian coat...isn't that suspicious?"

Julius heard all those comments around town; this was Robin without a doubt. He had to find her. The fact that she left and later the fact that the town nearby was set ablaze was worrisome to say the least. He asked around and soon found himself in front of a group of four people, one of them being Robin. She looked happy, as she took the hand of the noble in front of him. Lord Julius knew who he was, why wouldn't he know the face of the Prince of Ylisse, especially considering his hand in the murder of his father. However the prince mattered little, or rather the important thing was the way Robin looked around the three of them. They could probably protect her better than he could, but the fact that she had amnesia opened much better possibilities for her than he'd like to admit. She could live a life free of guilt from her past, live anew, without any ties, he would only be a reminder of a painful past. His injuries ached, apparently he had taken more of a beating that he would've liked to, and considering his previous injuries, he wasn't in any shape to protect her. Maybe it was best to leave, remain a lost memory to her, he could never forgive himself for the misery he caused Eirika and her, so if this was a way to repay them, so be it. Would Eirika be happy with this? He sat down in a nearby bench and placed his tome beside him. His eyes welled with tears at the thought of loosing her grandchild, he would be alone, but maybe, this was for the best, could he say goodbye? He didn't want it to be the last time he had to see her.

Suddenly a hand gave him a reassuring pat in his back and he felt healing magic upon him. He opened his eyes to find the princess of Ylisse healing him and, most important of all, Robin next to him, her eyes filled with concern.

"Are you ok, sir do you need anything? What happened?"

He smiled, he wasn't a man of much faith, but he thanked Naga from the bottom of his heart, for giving him this chance.

"Thank you but I shall be fine." He paused and looked at Robin, "I seem to have lost someone to the chaos, however I do not fret, because I know that she will be in a better place, I just hope that all I have done has not been in vain."

Robin felt sorry for the old man, she couldn't remember what loosing somebody felt like, but seeing him made her heart ache. She didn't know what to do, so she did the only thing logical to her, she hugged him.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..."

Trembling hands embraced her and after several moments passed she slowly let go.

"Take care child, be safe, thank you for caring for this old man...goodbye." He stood up and walked, his heart lighter than it had been since Eirika's death. As he looked back and saw Lissa and Robin returning to Chrom and the armored knight he felt his cheeks dampen again. His eyes turned to the heavens and he smiled.

 _I hope I have made you proud, my dear daughter, Robin shall be safe, let us fade into obscurity for her sake, Eirika._


	14. Chapter 14: Newfriends?

**Author's note: Hello again! Sorry for the delay, I just had too many classes piling up on me, but between what was left of vacation I managed to come up with a chapter. As always, I hope you enjoy this chapter, it was made with love and care, as well as lack of sleep. Thanks a lot for the reviews, I'll try to keep the story as new as possible with new variations that keep this story different.**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing from Fire Emblem, all rights belong to Intelligent Systems and Nintendo.**

Chapter 14: New...friends?

The earthquake had shook everything, the ground was cracked and by the looks of it, crops wouldn't be growing there for some years. Robin was having a hard time fighting those things, as well as carefully moving towards their leader. Two new members joined their ragtag team, a blue haired archer that would attempt to woo anything remotely female, and a red haired woman Robin wouldn't want to challenge to a fight at all. Having new members was definitely a bonus, fighting with only four people, although easier to handle, was pretty much useless against large hordes of monsters, especially considering the situation they wound themselves up. She needed the manpower so she sent Chrom and Sully, kept Virion with Lissa, Frederick and her went on their own, Frederick plowed down ahead while still keeping an eye on Lissa, he didn't trust the archer. At first this seemed like a good idea, Chrom could take on the bigger herds, Lissa was protected and Frederick got rid of the most immediate threat, however the hordes were still growing in random places, and even Marth's help didn't amount to much.

Robin looked ahead the boss was right ahead, but between them there were about twenty creatures. Robin knew that she couldn't make it, she was lucky to just have made it so far with such few encounters. She looked at her tome, and a confident grin spread on her face, if she was smart about it she could probably get away with this. After drowning a vulnerary she threw a thunder, eliminating two out of the way. Suddenly they looked at her, finally noticing her and sprinting in her direction, she threw a couple more thunders, eliminating about five more, and took out her sword. Sword fighting was not her strength but she was better than the average fighter and could probably get away with this without a big problem. She blocked, parried and stabbed according to her short lessons with Chrom while camping, however her arms were growing tired, each hit was becoming harder to block and most of all, there were more than she had seen. She felt as she was slowly messing up some hits, she could barely dodge in time. Suddenly, an axe almost crashed down on her, she blocked it only to feel her arm tingle and grow numb, falling limply at her side. She didn't see it, there were just too many, she saw its axe go back up.

 _Damn I need to do something, anything! Wait Robin, think calmly, you can do this._

She looked back up only to find the axe raised and ready to murder her. It was not safe to do this but at this point a short range attack was the best thing she could do. She heard a woman's scream, as she took out her tome and quickly said the spell, lightning radiating from her hand. She could smell the charred skin, it smelled horrible, but it meant one thing, she was alive. However the body still stood there, dangling with a spear through its chest, the body finally dissolved and Robin could see Frederick with a scowl on his face, she just stood there and wondered if there was another expression he was capable of making.

"That was not enough to kill him, train harder."

That was harsh, true, but harsh. She saw Chrom was not far behind with a worried expression in his face.

"You probably got enough of a scolding from Frederick already, sorry for that, in any case, here."

He gently opened her hand and left a vulnerary, she couldn't help but smile while quickly uncorking it. She could feel her wounds slightly closing, not everything was healed but at least she could still go on fighting.

"I'm not leaving your side, you need the support."

"But what about Sully?"

"She's a really capable soldier, right now she doesn't need the support, besides we pretty much finished with all the hordes over there. She left to finish some stragglers with Virion, as you said should any of us finish on our side."

"Good, then let's fight together!"

She was confident, with Chrom by her side, she could do it, she lifted her sword again.

"Chrom we need to take him out between the both of us, I will keep it entertained with some magic while you go at it from the side, can you do it?"

Chrom seemed to weigh his options, considering it carefully, then with a small nod he started running towards it, fighting anything that approached him. Robin took out her tome and started throwing weak attacks towards the boss, just enough to take his attention without taking too much time and energy to produce. Chrom started to get closer to the monster, however it didn't seem to notice, as he was trying to block all of Robins attacks.

"Your end has come!" Chrom lunged forward, with his sword ripping through its flesh. After standing up he turned to Robin with a calm look, he sheathed his sword and walked toward the group that was slowly forming around the mysterious swordsman.

ヘ(◕。◕ヘ)

Robin stumbled in the barracks of the Shepherds, feeling more overwhelmed than anything. After some dizzying introductions, first to the exalt and then to the rest of the Shepherds her head was buzzing with all this new names. Lissa took her over to her new room, it was small, with a bookcase, a bed and a small desk. It might not have been much, but Robin felt at home here.

"You might need some new clothes, but it's pretty late to go shopping now, still, tomorrow morning might be a good time, what do you say? Maribelle can also come and we can have a lot of fun."

This was a good way to know Ylisse a little better, and besides she couldn't say no to the face she was making, is this how Chrom felt whenever his little sister asked for anything?

"Yes I would love that Lissa."

"Great! I'll go tell her right now! See you tomorrow Robin, have a goodnight."

After Robin watched her skip down the hall she closed her door and settled in her bed. Now that she had some time for herself she decided to take out the little book in her pocket. She sat on her bed and, with her heart on her stomach, started opening the book. The first pages contained strategies, copied down with some scraggly handwriting.

 _Is this mine? I should probably compare it to be sure, but wait, can I still remember how to write? I mean I know how to talk properly, I wonder how far my amnesia covers..._

Lissa said that there were some writing supplies in her desk; she opened one of the drawers only to find a small knife and a pencil in need of sharpening, probably left over from the last owner. She started sharpening it with the knife, careful not to cut herself. She opened the book and in the corner started writing simple letters, then words, relief poured through her features, she still knew how to write, but what was even more interesting was that apparently the writing was similar. Then this book might actually be hers...this hit her hard, maybe even harder than it should have, she felt nervous, might she be able to remember something? Anything would be good enough at this point, she just needed something. She noticed a bookmark in one of the sections of the book, after taking it out she noticed only one word printed on it "Wisdom" suddenly her head started hurting... It felt like her head was being split in pieces. However it slowly faded, leaving only a pained throb behind. She looked up at the bookmark, there were two dragons engraved in the leather, they were intricate and the blue and purple string looked expensive, the golden string was probably made out of real gold. This made her feel uncomfortable, what did this say about her? Was she a noble? This was probably too expensive for a simple commoner to get. She put it aside for now, whatever it was it could wait. She opened the page the bookmark was on, only to see something different, while in all the pages there were scribbles o battle basics or spells here she found a drawing...there was a beautiful woman in there, her hair was blue, almost like a teal color, her face was delicate and well defined, however, she looked sad, even though there was a smile in her face she looked sad. Under the face was a small name, Eirika; her head didn't hurt this time, and Robin felt a sort of peace after watching this drawing, almost as if she knew that it would all be alright, she put the bookmark where it belonged and left the book to the side. After taking her coat of, she put it in her chair and laid on her bed, staring at the ceiling, she could slowly feel sleep crawling on her, and not after long she fell asleep with a smile in her face.

The sun shined brightly through her window, hitting her almost directly in the face, she groaned loudly, not wanting to wake up, especially when staying in bed seemed far more comfortable. But apparently the loud knocking in her door thought differently, she rolled out of bed and slowly crawled towards the door, creaking it slightly, only to find the face of Maribelle with a humorous grin on her face.

"Will you come out already? You do remember we were meant to leave today to town right?" Her tone was prickly but the fact that she came over here to wake her up was appreciated. After a small sorry and thanks she closed the door and got her clothes ready. She went downstairs only to find long tables with lots of people eating on them, she didn't really know most of them, even though they were introduced only yesterday, however finding the familiar face of Sully calmed her down a bit and after collecting her food she sat next to the redhead, going into an energetic conversation over the benefits of swords, lances and tomes.

Robin quickly finished her breakfast and ran to her room, fixed her hair and left to find Lissa. As the three of them left for town they noticed two figures standing at the castle gates, Frederick and Chrom. Chrom waved enthusiastically, with an infectious grin on his face, Lissa and Robin waved back, noting that Frederick, in a momentary lapse, smiled slightly. They headed over for the entrance, and Robin couldn't help but notice the uniforms of the bowing knights, blue and gold, it looked gorgeous, yet also practical. One of them looked up just in time to see her watching him and winked with a grin in his face; her face grew hot and quickly looked away. She hoped nobody was watching that but as she knew it would happen, Lissa giggled while looking at her, with Maribelle having a crooked smile.

 _Of course this would happen..._ With that sobering thought in her head they walked into town, curiosity painting her every step. The first thing she could hear were the voices, at first the murmurs, though it suddenly grew to a cacophony of steps, voices and just different sounds. Her eyes grew wide in wonder, this place was enormous, even though she saw it yesterday, this was a completely different story, she saw stores lined up in the streets, that were filled with people and horses, some with carriages behind them; there were peddlers, with the biggest variety of wares that varied, some with ripe and juicy fruits, others with jewelry that seemed to glitter, some gold and others made out of weird stones, although Robin could only stare at the fruits for a while...

 _If I take a bite out of them, they would most surely melt in my mouth!_

Suddenly she heard a squeal come from Lissa, when she looked at her she could see that they passed by a store with a wide window, showcasing elegant dresses, a loud groan came from Chroms general direction, while Frederick's hands tensed slightly behind his back. When they went inside, Lissa ran to the bright yellow dress with Maribelle and Frederick behind her. She stayed behind with Chrom, apparently people buy clothes at places like this. It was a slow process, learning everything again, but it seemed really entertaining.

After a couple of squeals and a small yelp Lissa came out with a bright yellow dress that made her look more like a giant bumblebee than a princess. Chrom and Robin couldn't help but chuckle slightly under their breaths, trying their best to hide it. Frederick and Maribelle gave each other knowing looks and while she slowly dragged Lissa back into the dressing room, Frederick headed over to the display, looking for a better dress.

"Is it always like this?" She asked.

"Yeah, you should've seen some of the dresses she has tried, Emmeryn even prohibited her from leaving to go shopping by herself." He said while battling a chuckle.

"I would've loved to see that, it must've been hilarious."

"It was, in a terrifying sort of way."

They laughed until she saw from the corner of her eye Lissa coming out of the dressing room, with a much nicer yellow dress.

"How do I look, guys?" She really did look nice, it was a bit less flamboyant than the other yellow dress, yet it still had white frills and an ample skirt, however the real charm of the dress came in the manner of how she twirled with it, with joyous glee, this time she looked bright.

"You look really cute!"

"Yeah! I completely agree with that, you look cute, sister."

"Well I think I'll be taking this one then!" She gave one last twirl and headed over to the changing room with a proud Maribelle behind her. After Lissa paid for the dress they left only to go back into the now crowded streets. Chrom looked at her curiously and said, "I think I know a place that you might like."

He took her hand and dragged her through all the throngs of people, into what looked like an unassuming store. She went into the store only for a musty scent to receive her, like wet sand and leather, her eyes took a minute to adjust to the lack of light but when they did, her eyes widened like saucers. There were a huge line of books in front of her, lined in shelf after shelf. In the corner there were a pair of tables and some chairs, with unlit candles on top of it. She smiled brightly and when she looked over at Chrom he started talking, while his face was slowly turning red.

"I saw you reading your tome so intently on the way to the capital, I thought you might like a place like this, sorry that was a bit presumptuous to say, I mean, I thought you might like books, do you?" He started rubbing his neck and averting his eyes from her.

"I love this place, thank you!" She beamed, and hugged him around the neck, almost spinning, while Chrom was trying his best to calm down, as his face turned almost purple.

"I was worried you wouldn't like it, I'm kinda glad I was mistaken." She drifted towards some of the shelves curiously poking her head to some shelves, while the old saleswoman asked her if she was looking for anything. Chrom looked at them, with a silly smile on his face, he sat on the windowsill and stared to his hearts content. It was strange how she could derive such pleasure from books, not to say he hadn't read, but his interests did lie somewhere else. _She looks so cute_. She saw her come back to him, with her arms stacked with books, at this pace she would use as much money as Lissa. He took the books from her surprised by their apparent weight, then with a confident stride over to the old lady he told her that he would be paying. Robins face slowly turned into panic, as she said that it was too much or that she could go without some books. He just smiled and said, "Take it as a welcome gift, to the Shepherds." It was also a little selfish that he wanted to buy this for her, he wanted her to think about him when she read those books.

ۜ\\(סּںסּ` )/

Night had come and Robin could not conceal sleep, the bed was just too comfortable, she missed sleeping outside and the quiet of the castle was a bit nerve wrecking. She left her room and walked around the barracks. Skimming through her notebook had yielded close to no answers and she was getting slightly frustrated; however the cold air seemed to slightly calm her down. She stumbled in one of the courtyards and, after finding a comfortable spot with some moonlight, she opened one of the books she had carried around with her. When she finally lost site of time and was getting even more engrossed in her book a slight sound disturbed her, at the moment she looked up she found a fully clad Frederick, frowning as per usual.

"Someone might confuse you for a thief, or worse."

"Well goodnight to you too Frederick."

"I wish I could say the same, but I still don't trust you."

"And I don't blame you, but have you been there for long? I know it can get kinda boring with me reading all the time." She chuckled slightly almost as if apologizing for not being too interesting.

"You must not worry yourself, it's my duty."

"Ok I'll try my best not to, however, if you wish to sit I make you some space, you have to admit it's kinda better than standing up the whole time."

"No need, but thank you." Despite saying that he still inched close to her, standing in a sort of middle point. Robin knew that she shouldn't push the subject further and opened her book again. After some time, she was surprised it was Frederick who spoke out.

"A spy wouldn't be so bad at fighting... You require further training."

"I know, my sword skills are sub-par at best and my magic still needs some tweaking."

"I know not of magic, but even though I use a lance my prowess with the sword is just as good."

"Yeah I've noticed, your skill is amazing!" She didn't seem to get the hint.

"I've actually taught recruits before, even some Shepherds, I call it Frederick's Fanatical Fitness Hour." _That seems painful_.

"I suppose they must all be top fighters now." _Or at least scared of him, really scared_.

"That means I have no choice but to teach you, we need to get you to be able to go against the very top and for that only cautious tutelage can work." She seemed to get a thousand stones in her stomach as realization poured in, it was nice of him but at the same time she knew this wasn't going to end well. She tried her best to smile, or at least grin, but with how things were now she could only hope to sob or cry for help. After setting up a time, Frederick offered to escort her to her room, even though it was out of fear that she might be a spy she was still grateful, she didn't want to get lost in the place. When she finally arrived to her room she looked up to her ceiling, she couldn't help but to smile as the day flashed before her eyes. This was more than she could hope for, a life to live after waking up with nothing but a sword and a notebook, filled with friends and interesting new things. After finishing this thought she stood fixated on one idea, friends, she somehow managed to make new friends in this life, with things looking so good, she could only wait to see what happened.


End file.
